A gripping history of the fight to defend democracy from within.

A demagogue is a tyrant who owes his initial rise to the democratic support of the masses. Huey Long, Hugo Chavez, and Moqtada al-Sadr are all clear examples of this dangerous byproduct of democracy.

Demagogue takes a long view of the fight to defend democracy from within, from the brutal general Cleon in ancient Athens, the demagogues who plagued the bloody French Revolution, George W. Bush's naïve democratic experiment in Iraq, and beyond.

This compelling narrative weaves stories about some of history's most fascinating figures, including Adolf Hitler, Senator Joe McCarthy, and General Douglas MacArthur, and explains how humanity's urge for liberty can give rise to dark forces that threaten that very freedom. To find the solution to democracy's demagogue problem, the book delves into the stories of four great thinkers who all personally struggled with democracy—Plato, Alexis de Tocqueville, Leo Strauss, and Hannah Arendt.

Review: Demagogue (Publishers Weekly) Signer, senior policy adviser at the Center for American Progress, delivers hope, confidence and a vision for diplomacy amid a discussion of why the United States has eluded the grip of the demagogue via its collective "constitutional conscience." While the U.S. has created opportunities for demagogues abroad, it has consistently marginalized and suffocated demagogues at home, from Huey Long to George W. Bush, not by definition a demagogue, but whose attempts to trump the Constitution met with "vigilance against . . . [his] bullying." According to the author, these charismatic leaders typically emerge during times of national crises; their identification with the common people elicits deep emotional responses—yet societies can be immune if the rule of law supersedes the power of the individual charged with enforcing it. The book signals the need for a new direction in foreign policy, revealing how the U.S. frequently gives demagogues just "what they seek . . . an easily hated enemy for them to agitate the masses against." "The story of America's struggle with demagogues," Signer writes, "is the story of America herself."

annaf	Posted on Mar 24, 2009 11:55 AM
In agreeance Paloma is spot on regarding Signer's idea that an educated population us far less likely to succumb to a demagogue.
sfriedman	Posted on Mar 3, 2009 1:01 PM
What Do George Bush and Hitler Have in Common? As Paloma said, the book is very well-written and interesting. Signer portrays Bush exactly as he is, and although we do not want to imagine what would have happened had Bush had even *more* power, Signer gives us some ideas.
paloma	Posted on Feb 11, 2009 4:12 PM
Fascinating Wonderful combination of history (from the Ancient Greeks to the present day) and political analysis. His emphasis on the *relationship* between the demagogue and the people is very instructive, showing that where people have information and adequate education they're less likely to be swept up and manipulated by a demagogue. I think he's right to say Bush was not a demagogue, but had Bush been allowed to trample the law more than he did, and operate in the kind of secrecy he favored, maybe conditions could have become more hospitable to the kind of demagoguery Signer writes about, especially in the event of a terrorist attack...
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Michael Signer, author of Demagogue, is Senior Policy Advisor at the Center for American Progress and Senior National Security Policy Fellow at the think tank Third Way. He was Senator John Edwards's foreign policy advisor on his presidential campaign. His articles have appeared in the Washington Post, USA Today, and Democracy: A Journal of Ideas.