Who Owns Democracy?
The Real Deep State and the Struggle Over Class and Caste in America
Charles Derber author Yale R Magrass author
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published:7th Aug '24
£135.00
Supplier delay - available to order, but may take longer than usual.
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£35.99(9781032781907)
This book uniquely reverses today’s MAGA conspiratorial concept of the deep state to reveal how a very real “deeper state” is evident throughout history, back to the founding of American democracy.
Class and caste-based elites and their political allies have held dominant power in the US. Large corporations, Wall Street, and other sectors of the capitalist class outsource day-to-day governance to the mainstream political parties, which can compete vigorously and create a credible veneer of civil liberties and electoral democracy, disguising and legitimating the deep state. But it is a “shallow democracy,” since the deep state sets boundaries on policies and choices to serve itself. It also denies a universal franchise and obstructs the voting rights of people of color, the poor, and other communities threatening to the deep state. Moreover, the deep state constrains civic governance in the workplace and community, denying virtually all working people democratic control over their economic and social life.
Shallow democracy has a long history. Two embryonic deep states – a Northern capitalist deep state and a Southern slave-based deep state – came together in a tense and unstable union to create and govern the US. While the Confederate deep state, which we call proto-American fascism, was defeated in the Civil War, it left a deep imprint on the culture and politics of millions of Americans, and has resurged again in Trumpism. The shallow democracy of the capitalist deep state has survived previous challenges, but it lacks the deep roots that guarantees its survival.
The authors point to prospects for meaningful change arising from the extreme economic chasm dividing the nation economically and racially, and from existential crises of the survival of democracy and of a sustainable planet. They discuss strategy that might finally move the nation beyond MAGA toward deep democracy.
“In this timely and urgent book, readers are invited to pull up a chair and listen in. This is 'My Dinner with Charlie and Yale,' a riveting conversation between two sparkling thinkers, who refreshingly don’t agree about everything. Through their dialogue, we are exposed to a deeper understanding of what democracy means, its historic ebbs and contractions, and its possibilities going forward. We learn about the historic and hidden power of the 'corporate deep state,' and the legacy of authoritarian and fascist strains in US history and culture rooted in class and caste disparities. Through the book’s unique conversational format, we’re also exposed to an exemplary practice of democracy, as Derber and Magrass model how to both articulate one’s position but also to respectfully listen well to one another.”
Chuck Collins, author of Altar to an Erupting Sun and Born on Third Base, and director of the program on extreme inequality at the Institute for Policy Studies
“With their emphasis on not one, but two, 'deep states' in America, both of which are very different from the 'deep state' that Donald Trump and his supporters talk about, the sociological duo that wrote this engaging and provocative book is clearly hoping to encourage ongoing thoughtful discussions among students, scholars, and the general public who might otherwise be hesitant to express their views on the complex issues the country faces. And by creatively presenting their panoramic views on democracy, race, and corporate power as part of a lively back-and-forth conversation between the two of them, in which they sometimes disagree with each other, they provide an inviting and reassuring way to make extended discussions of these volatile issues possible.”
G. William Domhoff,author of Who Rules America?
“How are we to understand the paradox that increasing immiseration and precarity has resulted in rebellion taking a right wing hue, partnering unorganized working people with the very forces responsible for their decline? Adopting democratic methods of analysis and exposition, Magrass and Derber take us into the deep history of the American state and the complex interplay between class and caste that has brought us to the present, fraught moment. And yet they are hopeful, channeling as they do past ruptures with the oligarchic order and even contemporary moments in which Americans take 'ownership' of their democracy. It is therefore a must-read effort for those wishing to right historical injustice and recover hope for a more humane future.”
Suren Moodliar, Managing Editor of Socialism and Democracy
“In this remarkable conversation, Charles Derber and Yale Magrass explore the complex depths of unaccountable and unrepresentative power as it has evolved through the history of the United States, and where it might go next. The two do not agree on all points, and neither will you, but this rich history – shockingly different from what you were likely taught in school – provides not a simple to-do list, but a guide to acting even in a future we cannot yet know the shape of."
David Swanson,author of War Is a Lie and director of World Beyond War
ISBN: 9781032781976
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 453g
282 pages