The majority of citizens in the world today do not trust their political
representatives, the mainstream political parties, the established
political institutions or their governments. This widespread crisis of
legitimacy underlies a series of dramatic changes that have taken place
in recent times in the global political landscape, such as the
unexpected election of Donald Trump, Brexit, the demise of traditional
political parties and the election of a political outsider in France,
the transformation of the political system in Spain (including the
secessionist movement in Catalonia), the rise of the extreme right in
Europe and the nationalist challenges that threaten the European Union.
In this short but wide-ranging book Manuel Castells analyses each of
these processes and examines some of the potential causes of people's
disaffection towards the institutions of liberal democracy, including
the effects of globalization, the impact of media politics and the
internet, the increasing corruption of politicians, the insulation of a
professional political class from civil society and the critique of the
existing order by new social movements. He also examines the impact of
global terrorism and war on the xenophobia and racism that are fuelling
the surge of extremism among a growing proportion of the population. The
fact that many of these trends are present in very different contexts
suggests that we are witnessing a deep-seated crisis of the model of
democracy that has been the cornerstone of stability and civility in the
last half century.
