Under Observation

The Definition of Liberal Democracy and Its Allies
Suhrkamp | Insel
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Poland (Wydawnictwo Instytutu Zachodniego)


Under Observation / Unter Beobachtung
The Definition of Liberal Democracy and Its Allies

A conceptual history of democracy against the backdrop of contemporary events

Shortlisted for the Tractatus-Preis 2024 

When, and in whose interests, did the concept of liberal democracy become politically meaningful? And what is the connection between our analytic concepts and the institutional contexts and the conflicts that they purport to merely describe?

Philip Manow sketches out a conceptual history of our democratic present that is systematically interwoven with the recent developments within political institutions and the crises these have triggered. In doing so, this influential...

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When, and in whose interests, did the concept of liberal democracy become politically meaningful? And what is the connection between our analytic concepts and the institutional contexts and the conflicts that they purport to merely describe?

Philip Manow sketches out a conceptual history of our democratic present that is systematically interwoven with the recent developments within political institutions and the crises these have triggered. In doing so, this influential political scientist interprets the current crisis as a consequence of the epochal transformations that were ushered in in 1989/90. In a general sense, Manow reveals that our ontologies have always been historical and thus also always political. And this is particularly true of ontologies of the political.

»There are not too many non-fiction books that actually contain new insights. This is because most of them reproduce a commonly recounted narrative that they believe to be true. After reading Philip Manow’s perceptive book Under Observation, however ... you feel like you’ve just been through a spin cycle: you find yourself rubbing your eyes because you've lost all sense of orientation and no longer know what’s left and right, back and front, up and down.« Ijoma Mangold, DIE ZEIT

»What is entirely original is … the way Manow connects [the processes of constitutionalisation and the entrenchment of the rule of law] with the typical observations of the political public sphere.« Oliver Weber, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

»... an important and thoroughly readable intervention.« Jannik Oestmann, theorieblog.de

»Manow’s analysis is as enlightening as it is provocative, which makes it stand out from mainstream political science. The book is also packed with insightful observations …« Dirk Jörke, Portal für Politikwissenschaft
»There are not too many non-fiction books that actually contain new insights. This is because most of them reproduce a commonly recounted narrative that they believe to be true. After reading Philip Manow’s perceptive book Under Observation, however ... you feel like you’ve just been through a spin cycle: you find yourself rubbing your eyes because you've lost all sense of orientation and no longer know what’s left and right, back and front, up and down.« Ijoma Mangold, DIE...
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2024, 252 pages
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DISCOVER

Nachricht
Philip Manow has been shortlisted for the Tractatus-Preis 2024 for his book Under Observation.
 
Nachricht
Philip Manow has been shortlisted for the Tractatus-Preis 2024 for his book Under Observation.
 

DISCOVER

Nachricht
Philip Manow has been shortlisted for the Tractatus-Preis 2024 for his book Under Observation.
 

Persons

Philip Manow, born in 1963, is professor of Politics at the University of Bremen.

Philip Manow, born in 1963, is professor of Politics at the University of Bremen.


OTHER PUBLICATIONS

(Un-)Democratising Democracy
Year of Publication: 2020
Philip ManowYear of Publication: 2020

Democracy versus democracy – illiberal versus liberal, direct versus representative democracy, maybe even »the people vs. democracy«? It seems as though democracy has never been as...

Rights sold to:

Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (CC Live)

The Political Economy of Populism
Year of Publication: 2018
Philip ManowYear of Publication: 2018

Populism is a multifarious phenomenon. Sometimes from the right, sometimes from the left; sometimes it articulates a protest against open markets, sometimes it turns against migration. Also in its geographic distribution it is rich in variance: in southern Europe leftist populism holds sway, in northern Europe that of the right. Philip Manow develops a comparative explanation for this...

In the King's Shadow
Year of Publication: 2008
Philip ManowYear of Publication: 2008
It is commonly assumed that the rise of modern democracies put an end to the spectacular and ceremonial aspects of political rule that were so characteristic of monarchies and other earlier...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Polity)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Russia (Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy)