Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism Paperback – February 21, 2010

Sheldon Wolin is gone now and that is a shame for it would be such a delight to read his rendering of our very current time (2017) that so many others are trying to explain. I imagine a séance as one catches in old movies where the collective sit in a dark smoked filled room while the master/mistress seeks a trance… ‘Ah’ he is here. What great Master have you to say? “I told you so.”Publishing this work in 2008 he lays out the character of the American society and where its prided Democracy has gone; most recently under the reign of George I-II as he calls it but the roots travel far back to earlier administrations and their untruths and proclivities. What he finds is Democracy Incorporate, Inverted Totalitarianism, and Superpower – a contrived Imperial thrust housing perpetual wars. One thesis is: Concentrated corporate power and democracy are incompatible. These are heavy charges, is this not yet the world’s leading democracy?This work could have been edited to a tighter presentation but his language is so memorable that would have been a loss. Here he explains what we do sense has happened but can not quite grasp: “The crisis, it seems, is that there was no crisis. In its literal meaning a crisis is “a turning point.” Adapting the formulation “a turning point but no crisis” to the condition I have designated “inverted totalitarianism,” we might ask, why does the existence of that turning point go unrecognized? how are the facts of radical political change concealed when there is no evidence, say, of a coup or revolutionary overthrow? how can we recognize that the country is at the political turning point of inverted totalitarianism?” (pp. 211-212) "“The development that is emblematic of the economic polity is the extent to which finance has come to define politics. Millions of dollars from corporations are systematically poured into the legislative process and electoral campaigns.State actors have become dependent more on corporate power than on their own citizens. Even a citizen-army is becoming a thing of the past, replaced by professionals skilled in the latest weaponry developed by corporate technology.The military has been absorbed into the corporate economy (defense contracts, weapons procurement, retired generals become executives) and its culture.”(p. 589)The topic Superpower, incorporating Globalization and Militarization have become more recognized by the citizenry but here too you will delight in his analysis; other would prefer the title “Pax Americana” as a gentler cover, but that behavior he explains well.The original was published in 2008, indeed a crisis period as it has proven; re-released with a new preface by the author, 2010 and a new edition, with an introduction by Chris Hedges in 2017. The footnotes are as informative and entertaining as the text.The current administration is pushing the envelope right along and one can only hope its Superpower is somehow controlled. The bright side as Wolin would see it is that the citizenry does seem to be getting the message that we need to pay attention to where we are going. Take the Professor’s course!

I had not read anything by Sheldon Wolin prior to this book, and I picked it up because I was intrigued by what was apparently his own invented phraseology - "inverted totalitarianism." With these two words, Professor Wolin gave a name to something that those of us who pay close attention to global political and economic trends have glimpsed on many occasions but could never quite see in full. Indeed, this subject is so new and so little explored that it would be best to view Professor Wolin's book as our first landing point on an as-yet-unexplored continent. The continent is a dark place where shadowy plutocrats, corporate oligarchs and political prostitutes who aspire to admittance in the plutocracy conspire to keep the reins of power and control out of the hands of "the people" and in the hands of those who abuse that power and control for their own selfish ends. Wolin is careful, however, not to mis-cast "the people" in the role of entirely innocent victim. As Wolin understands and explains, each of us has a responsibility to be curious enough about our world to peer through the fog of propaganda in search of elusive truths, and to assault the walls of secrecy that insulate the powerful few from the powerless many.This book should be viewed as a call to arms, even though, in a very real sense, the war is already over and we, the people, have already lost. The war for transnational corporate hegemony has been marked here at home by the relentless dismantling of an already shaky scaffolding of American liberal democracy. Being constructed in its place is a virtually impenetrable authoritarian fortress protecting (and shielding from view) an unholy alliance among self-serving economic elites, self-appointed intellectual elites and self-promoting politicians who feign statesmanship while leaving bewildered rank and file Americans standing on the platform as the prosperity train pulls away from the station.The importance of this book, and this line of inquiry, cannot be over-stated. It is not an entirely easy read, but that is because it is so densely packed with vital information - it's like eating an incredibly nutrient-rich energy bar for your brain. Pick it up and open your eyes to the real state of the world around you - if it doesn't cause you to jump into action, shame on you.

Impressive analysis for our contemporary political system in the USA emulated by many western "democracies"

An excellent book presenting a view of the United States of America from the perspective of one of Americas most trusted and competent historians and philosophers. Unfortunately, his view is not perceived by most Americans who are held in check either by their corporately owned, controlled and compliant media using cognitive dissonance and brain washing to deliver a biased, deceitful but righteous message of their country's purported politics. The USA Patriot Act and the nightmarish presentation of the unremitting terrorist threats presented to the world as a treat to their nations security has allowed the US constitution to be shredded without so much as a whimper from the electorate. America has no natural enemies, but nevertheless has a more powerful military than during the cold war just doesn't make any sense. A private banking cartel that actively engineers the near collapse of the world economy and maintains its innocence. The US statistics tells the real story:Twenty active aircraft carriers, a larger level of surveillance than anywhere in the world, 2.22 million army and military reservists, 800 overseas bases, a prison population of 2,228,000, 780,000 police officers, 16 security agencies where the richest 1% of the population have the equivalent wealth of the bottom 34.6%, an admitted military budget of $640 billion and a child poverty level of 23.1% next to Romania, the lowest in the world. A new form of Democracy called 'INVERTED TOTALITARIANISM'.

This book is about the takeover of the public political system in the United States by private corporations - the ultimate hostile takeover, or maybe more of a friendly takeover given the close mingling of the public and private elites. In the author's words inverted totalitarianism "represents the political coming-of-age of corporate power". It is the triumph of market forces over democratic freedoms, the triumph of private over public. But what to do with all of those people who have the right to vote in elections? Well, democracy can be managed and voters can be roused from their state of apathy to cast their votes and then return to the apathetic norm required by inverted totalitarianism. Don't suppress democracy, that's too obvious, instead control it, manage it.Wolin does an excellent job of dissecting the corruption found in the American political system: lobbyists are now the main political actors - not citizens, not voters. Big business and big government are entwined in an incestuous embrace while we the people are left to go through the motions of perfunctory voting once every four years.Inverted totalitarianism is unlike classical totalitarianism (Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia). These earlier versions of totalitarianism mobilized the masses to show solidarity with one another and obedience to the Leader whereas inverted totalitarianism relies on a fragmented society of competitive individuals who are terrified of losing their jobs to cheaper foreign labour or losing their lives in a terrorist attack. A frightened, exhausted herd is much easier to manage. If people are working two jobs and just barely keeping their heads above water how are they going to have the time, energy or interest to become politically involved?If the elites can successfully manage the herd, they can get on with the business of "democracy" without having to explain things to the people. It's politics conducted in the style of the corporate boardroom and the takeover is complete.This review is of the paperback version which was published in 2010. The author includes a new preface in which he addresses the election of President Obama and its effect on inverted totalitarianism. His conclusions? I won't spoil it for you; it's a great read and I recommend it to everyone, American or otherwise.The book could have used some closer editing as it states that the Berlin Wall fell in 1987 (it fell in 1989) and that the Korean War took place from 1951 to 1954 (the actual dates of that conflict were 1950-1953). Minor details perhaps, but they should be pointed out even though they in no way detract from Wolin's reasoning.

A paradigm shifting book. The more people read this book, the more hope there is for an end to the great source of tyranny in our time.

Good book.