Do we need to rethink modern democracy?

London, UK (July 12, 2016). Democracy is under grave threat and with that the prospect of a better world for all, argues Philip Kotler in his latest book Democracy in Decline: Rebuilding its Future, publishing with SAGE Publishing later this month. Voting systems are flawed, fewer people vote, major corporations fund campaigns and as political parties battle it out, the real changes needed don’t occur.  

In the book, Kotler identifies 14 shortcomings of today’s democracy and proposes potential remedies whilst encouraging readers to join the conversation, exercise their free speech and get on top of the issues that affect their lives regardless of nationality or political persuasion. Situated within the current political environment, and forthcoming US elections, Kotler’s commentary couldn’t be more timely, as Kotler explains:

“In the United States, we have political candidates on the left and on the right proposing quite different and even contrary ways to make America great again. Bernie Sanders as a current political candidate has been the most active in exposing and enumerating the problems of American democracy. Unfortunately, many of the Republican candidates either deny these problems, omit these problems, or say that they will cost us too much to fix. [Kotler argues that citizens need] a systematic account of how our main democratic institutions work in theory and in practice.”

Kotler puts forward a convincing argument addressing the challenges we face in our current political and economic environment as he seeks a path for us to progress forwards. Having studied economics under Nobel laureates, Milton Friedman and Paul Samuelson as a young man and having since ranked consistently as one of the top 10 thinkers of all time by the international business press, Kotler, the marketing guru, uniquely imagines democracy as a product which is failing its customers (citizens) and now therefore requires a re-design in order to better meet their needs. Arthur Lupia, author of Uniformed: Why People Know So Little About Politics and What We Can Do About It describes Democracy in Decline as follows:

“This book covers an astonishing range of critical topics in a lively and highly accessible style. With its thought-provoking proposals for progress, it is a great resource for people who want to creatively rethink modern democracy.”

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So can American democracy be saved?  An accompanying website (www.democracyindecline.com) invites the public to continue the debate and publish articles that aid our understanding of what is happening and what can be done to improve democracies around the world.

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Sara Miller McCune founded SAGE Publishing in 1965 to support the dissemination of usable knowledge and educate a global community. SAGE is a leading international provider of innovative, high-quality content publishing more than 950 journals and over 800 new books each year, spanning a wide range of subject areas. Our growing selection of library products includes archives, data, case studies and video. SAGE remains majority owned by our founder and after her lifetime will become owned by a charitable trust that secures the company’s continued independence. Principal offices are located in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC and Melbourne. www.sagepublishing.com

Philip Kotler is the S. C. Johnson and Son Distinguished Professor International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Professor Kotler is the author of over 50 books on markets and marketing.  Trained as an economist at the University of Chicago (under Nobel Laureate, Milton Friedman) and at M.I.T. (under Nobel Laureates, Paul Samuelson and Robert Solow), he has applied his economic knowledge to how markets and marketing works was an early developer of modern marketing and the emerging field of behavioural economics. As an expert on how buyers make their buying decisions, he broadened marketing to explain how buyers make their voting decisions on all kinds of issues.