Imperfect Ideal (Essays on Liberal Democracy in the Real World)

Liberal democracy is in crisis. How did we get here and how can we rescue it?

Featuring: Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, Peter L. Biro, Michael R.J. Bonner, Thomas Homer-Dixon, Scott Janzwood, Michel J. Paradis, Dennis Pilon, Sascha Priewe, George S. Takach, and Lucan Ahmad Way

With liberal democracy in crisis around the world, ten contributors — all experts in their respective fields of political science, philosophy, law, cultural institutions, and diplomacy — explain why we find ourselves in a state of democratic backsliding, what the stakes are for constitutional democracy, and how we might build a more vibrant and resilient civic culture. Reckoning with the bigger challenges confronting liberal democratic institutions, this group interrogates core assumptions, raises important questions about their philosophical and political origins, and asks whether liberal democracy has even been fully realized in Canada and elsewhere.

These essays consider a more critical role for cultural institutions, the place of public engagement — of activism — alongside formal legal processes to defend and champion civil liberties, and both the perils of artificial intelligence and its power in better serving the causes of freedom and democracy. Taken together, the contributions awaken readers to liberal democracy’s purpose, vulnerabilities, and shortcomings while inspiring them with its unfulfilled potential and imperfect but worthy ideal.