Contact:
Patrick Tucker
Associate Editor
THE FUTURIST
Director of Communications
World Future Society
301-656-8274
ptucker@wfs.org
Future
Survey
Editor
Assembles
Election-Year
Guide to
Democracy
"Two
important
trends
are
indisputable"
says
social
scientist
and
Future
Survey
editor
Michael
Marien.
"First,
there
has
clearly
been a
long-term
trend
toward
democratic
governance
over the
past
century;
secondly,
this
trend
has
stalled
in
recent
years
and in
some
respects
reversed.
Does
this
portend
a brief
step
backward
before
moving
forward
again,
or an
unanticipated
long-term
reversal
of
democracy
as
complex
challenges
and
crises
continue
to
mount?"
In an
effort
to help
the
public
better
understand
the
changing
nature
of U.S.
and
global
democracy
in this
new era,
Marien
has
assembled
his
findings
in a
special,
36-page
Future
Survey
mini-guide,
Democracy
in the
21st
Century:
Forward
or
Backward?,
published
by the
World
Future
Society
(www.wfs.org).
The
report
presents
85
recent
abstracts
of
important
books,
white
papers,
and
articles
on
general
trends
related
to
democracy
worldwide,
the
struggling
"new
democracies,"
proposals
for
strengthening
U.S.
democracy,
elections
and
voting
in the
U.S.,
problems
with
American
media
and
education,
promises
of
e-democracy,
global
governance
issues,
and
democratic
idealisms.
Books
and
articles
reviewed
include
the work
of
Robert
Dahl,
Freedom
House,
Thomas
L.
Friedman,
Francis
Fukuyama,
Al Gore,
Larry
Sabato,
and
Fareed
Zakaria.
The
mini-guide
includes
three
indexes
(by
subject,
title,
and
author)
and a
Foreword
and
Synthesis,
both
commenting
on the
fragile
and
threatened
state of
democracy
in the
United
States
and many
other
nations.
"Nearly
everyone,
in
nearly
every
country,
favors
democracy
as the
preferred
form of
governance,
messy
and
imperfect
as it
may be,"
Marien
notes.
"That
said, it
is
important
to
recognize
different
definitions
of
democracy
in
different
places
and in
different
eras,
and
different
perceptions
as to
what
improvements
should
be made
and can
be made.
Generally
speaking,
the
political
right
favors
democracy
promotion
in other
nations,
and
assumes
that we
‘have’ a
democracy
(thus
consciously
or
unconsciously
ignoring
calls
for
reform).
In
contrast,
the
political
left
sees
many
flaws in
American
‘democracy,’
and
increasingly,
the
global
level of
governance.
The
political
center,
and
more-or-less
neutral
social
science
observers,
also
appear
to
increasingly
see
major
problems.
This
guide
serves
as an
introduction
to these
many
complex
problems
of who
decides
what and
how, and
the
muddy
future
of
democracy."
Democracy
in the
21st
Century:
Forward
or
Backward?
is
available
for $15
from the
World
Future
Society.
Also
available
are two
other
mini-guides
recently
prepared
by
Michael
Marien:
Global
Warming
and the
Energy
Transition,
and
Security
and
Peace in
the 21st
Century:
Nuclear
Weapons,
Terrorism
and
Other
Threats.
The
Mini-Guides
are
available
from WFS
for $15
each, or
$40 for
all
three.
"Why
review
just one
or two
books at
a time,
when
whole
new
vistas
can be
opened
up by a
reader-friendly
glimpse
at 50 to
100
books,"
asks
Marien.
About
Future
Survey:
Published
monthly
since
1979 by
the
World
Future
Society,
(www.wfs.org)
Future
Survey
provides
abstracts
of
important
new
books,
reports
and
articles
on
trends,
forecasts
and
proposals
regarding
government,
environment,
society,
technology,
globalization
and
more.
Further
information
at:
http://www.wfs.org/fsurv.htm
.
Editors:
To
request
a review
copy of
this
Special
Report,
or of
Future
Survey
or the
other
two
Mini-guides,
contact
director
of
communications
Patrick
Tucker
301-656-8274
ext.
116,
ptucker@wfs.org
. More
information
about
the
World
Future
Society
may also
be
obtained
from the
Society’s
Web
site,
www.wfs.org
CONTACT INFORMATION
Patrick
Tucker
World
Future
Society
Email
World
Future
Society
301-656-8274