Author Meets Critics: Gianna Englert's "Democracy Tamed"

Session Submission Type: Author meet critics

Session Description

Do liberal democracies require intelligent, moral, or productive citizens? Can liberal institutions educate the kind of citizens who will support free and equal governments against illiberal and undemocratic alternatives? With resurgent arguments "against democracy" and fears about the rise of populism, we face growing skepticism about whether liberalism and democracy can – and indeed should – survive together. In Democracy Tamed (Oxford University Press, 2024), Gianna Englert argues that the dilemmas facing liberal democracy are not unique to our present moment, but have existed since the birth of liberal political thought in nineteenth-century France. Combining political theory and intellectual history, Englert shows how French liberals championed the idea of "political capacity" as an alternative to democratic political rights and insisted that voting rights should be limited to capable citizens who would preserve free institutions against revolutionary passions and democratic demands. Liberals also redefined democracy itself, from its ancient meaning as political rule by the demos to something that, counterintuitively, required the guidance of a capable few rather than the rule of all.

This panel reflects both the historical and contemporary dimensions of Englert’s work. It brings together junior and senior scholars with interests in the history of liberalism, modern political thought, democratic theory, and the challenges posed by illiberalism in the twenty-first century.

Sub Unit

• Division 1: Political Thought and Philosophy

Chair

• Glory M. Liu Johns Hopkins University

Presenters

• Danielle Charette James University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Dimitrios Ioannis Halikias Princeton University

• Jacob T. Levy McGill University

• William Selinger University of Oklahoma

• Gianna Englert Hamilton Center, University of Florida