Beasts and Gods: how democracy changed its meaning and lost its purpose

Front Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Figures -- Acknowledgements -- Beasts and Gods -- Introduction: What Is Democracy? -- Part I -- 1: Democracy in Athens: People Power is Born -- How Athenian Democracy Worked -- Random Power: The Key to Democratic Success in Athens -- 2: The Myth of Representation -- First-Past-the-Post: The Winner Takes It All -- Other Electoral Systems -- Modern Democracy as Symbolic Democracy -- 3: Buying and Selling Elections -- The High Cost of Campaigning -- You Get What You Pay for: The Vicious Circle of Political Donations and Government Action -- A Fistful of Euros: Buying Irish Local Elections -- Representative Democracy: Second Place is the First Loser -- Why Referenda Fail -- Why Regulation Fails -- Elections: The Perfect Habitat for Manipulation -- 4: Participation: Bought In or Locked Out? -- The Struggle to Participate in Modern Democracy -- Participation in Modern Democracy: Running to Stand Still -- The Athenian View on Participation -- Different But (More) Equal: Decision-Making in Athens -- From Ancient Duty to Modern Privilege -- 5: Modern Democracy and the International System: A Perfect Storm -- The United Nations -- The World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund -- At the International Casino the House Always Wins -- 6: Non-Governmental Organizations and the Civil Society Chimera -- The Nature of Modern NGOs: Charity Begins in the Boardroom -- The Dark Underbelly of NGO Lobbying: Roundtables, Drugs and Lots of Cash -- Representative Democracy and the International System: Fertile Ground for Oligarchy -- 7: How Did Things Get to Be This Way? The Roman Republican System and the Founding Fathers of America -- Roman Politics: Déjà Vu -- All Sizzle and No Steak: The Roman System Rots at the Core.