Systemic Corruption: Constitutional Ideas for an Anti-Oligarchic Republic

The book "Systemic Corruption" argues that the majority of modern liberal democracies have become increasingly oligarchic due to a form of structural political decay. Camila Vergara provides a genealogy of political corruption from ancient to modern thought and proposes establishing a new counterpower to control the ruling elites. She suggests creating a plebeian republic with local assemblies that have the power to push for reform from the grassroots, independent of political parties and representative government.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 312 pages
Publication date: 07 June 2022
Publisher: Princeton University Press

A fresh and daring strategy to combat the inherent corruption of representative democracy is presented in this thought-provoking book. It exposes how the majority of modern liberal democracies have gradually transformed into oligarchic regimes, experiencing a form of structural political decay that was first conceptualized by ancient philosophers.

Systemic Corruption argues that the issue lies not in the actions of corrupt politicians but rather in the inherent design of our representative systems. Camila Vergara offers a compelling and original genealogy of political corruption, spanning from ancient to modern thought, and demonstrates how representative democracy was intended to serve the interests of the already wealthy and powerful, at the expense of the majority.

As the dominance of oligarchy grew, particularly after implementing neoliberal policies, most democracies succumbed to the corrupting influence, evolving into oligarchic democracies. Vergara explains how to reverse this corrupting trajectory by establishing a new counterpower capable of controlling the ruling elites. Drawing upon the anti-oligarchic institutional innovations proposed by plebeian philosophers, she reimagines the republic as a mixed order, where popular power is institutionalized to check the power of oligarchy.

Vergara showcases how a plebeian republic would establish a network of local assemblies with the authority to advocate for reform from the grassroots, independent of political parties and representative government. By drawing upon neglected insights from Niccolò Machiavelli, Nicolas de Condorcet, Rosa Luxemburg, and Hannah Arendt, Systemic Corruption proposes the establishment of anti-oligarchic institutions as a means to reverse the decay of democracy and empower the common people to resist the dominance of the few.

Dimension: 235 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691211565