000			02717cam a2200361Ki 4500
001			on1114843099
003			OCoLC
005			20200807100550.0
008			190901s2020 enk b 001 0 eng d
040			_aYDX _beng _erda _cYDX _dUKMGB _dOCLCO _dATNSH _dOCLCF _dNZAUC _dHQC _dSINLB _dYDXIT _dGZN _dNFG
015			_aGBB9J6017 _2bnb
016	7		_a019634890 _2Uk
020			_a1786077183 _qhardcover
020			_a9781786077189 _qhardcover
035			_a(OCoLC)1114843099
043			_ae-uk---
092			_a320.441 _bG783
049			_aNFGA
100	1		_aGrayling, A. C., _eauthor. _965598
245	1	4	_aThe good state : _bon the principles of democracy / _cA.C. Grayling.
264		1	_aLondon ; _aMinneapolis, MN : _bOneworld Publications, _c2020.
300			_axvi, 239 pages ; _c23 cm
336			_atext _btxt _2rdacontent
337			_aunmediated _bn _2rdamedia
338			_avolume _bnc _2rdacarrier
505	0		_aWhat democracy entails -- The purpose of government -- Powers and institutions -- Politics and people -- Governance and constitutionality -- Rights in a democracy -- The subversion of democracy.
520			_aThe foundations upon which our democracies stand are inherently flawed, vulnerable to corrosion from within. What is the remedy? A. C. Grayling makes the case for a clear, consistent, principled and written constitution, and sets out the reforms necessary - among them addressing the imbalance of power between government and Parliament, imposing fixed terms for MPs, introducing proportional representation and lowering the voting age to 16 (the age at which you can marry, gamble, join the army and must pay taxes if you work) - to ensure the intentions of such a constitution could not be subverted or ignored. As democracies around the world show signs of decay, the issue of what makes a good state, one that is democratic in the fullest sense of the word, could not be more important. To take just one example: by the simplest of measures, neither Britain nor the United States can claim to be truly democratic. The most basic tenet of democracy is that no voice be louder than any other. Yet in our 'first past the post' electoral systems a voter supporting a losing candidate is unrepresented, his or her voice unequal to one supporting a winning candidate, who frequently does not gain a majority of the votes cast. This is just one of a number of problems, all of them showing that democratic reform is a necessity in our contemporary world.
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
610	1	0	_aGreat Britain. _bParliament _xReform.
650		0	_aDemocracy _zGreat Britain.
651		0	_aGreat Britain _xPolitics and government. _949496
994			_aC0 _bNFG
999			_c314946 _d314946