Jan-Werner Müller – författare

'Lively. . . This is one of those rare books about a pressing subject that reads less like a forced march than an inviting stroll . . . A book that encourages thinking, observation and discernment' New York TimesOne of our most essential political thinkers offers a vital account of democracy in the twenty-first centuryEveryone knows that democracy is in trouble, but do we know what democracy actually is? Political philosopher Jan-Werner Müller, author of the widely acclaimed What Is Populism?, takes us back to basics. In this short, elegant volume, he explains how democracy is founded on three vital principles: liberty, equality, and also uncertainty. The latter, he argues, is crucial for ensuring democracy's dynamic and creative character. Authoritarians, as well as Big Tech, seek to render politics (and individual citizens) predictable; democracy holds open the possibility that new ideas, movements and identities can be created.Acknowledging fully the dangers posed by populism, by kleptocratic autocracies like Russia's and by the digital authoritarianism of Xi, Müller also challenges the assumptions made by many liberals defending democracy in recent years. He shows how the secession of plutocratic elites in the West has undermined much of democracy's promise. In response, we need to re-invigorate our institutions, especially political parties and professional media, but also make it easier for citizens to mobilize. Taking on many of the most difficult political questions we face, this book is a vital rethinking of what democracy is, and how we can reinvent our social contract.

'This lucid guide is essential reading' GuardianFrom Donald Trump to Recep Erdogan, populists are on the rise across the globe. But what exactly is populism? Should everyone who criticizes Wall Street or Washington be called a populist? What precisely is the difference between right-wing and left-wing populism? Does populism bring government closer to the people or is it a threat to democracy? Who are "the people" anyway and who can speak in their name? These questions have never been more pressing.In this provocative book, Jan-Werner Müller argues that at populism's core is a rejection of pluralism. Populists will always claim that they and they alone represent the people and their true interests. Contrary to conventional wisdom, populists can govern on the basis of their claim to exclusive moral representation of the people: if populists have enough power, they will end up creating an authoritarian state that excludes all those not considered part of the proper "people". Proposing a number of concrete strategies for how liberal democrats should best deal with populists, Müller shows how to counter their claims to speak exclusively for "the silent majority".*Updated with a new afterword*

Can architecture ever be democratic? An elegant, timely new theory of politics and urban design from the acclaimed author of What is Populism? and Democracy RulesBuilding requires power and resources – then, once created, our environment structures how we relate to each other. But what would a distinctly democratic built environment look like? Should we prioritize an inclusive process by which as many citizens as possible can decide how a building is designed? Or is it about how architecture and urban spaces can best represent democracy to citizens – and how building and city planning can concretely facilitate democratic action by citizens?In Street, Palace, Square, political theorist Jan-Werner Müller offers an elegant new account of architecture and democracy that draws on examples from Washington DC to Dhaka, Cairo to Berlin. Ranging widely across political philosophy, history and design, he shows that bringing architecture and democracy together has an unexpected benefit. As we reflect on spaces and symbols on the one hand and our understandings of democracy on the other, we might see possibilities we did not see before: how to create spaces for citizens to make politics their own.

How did German intellectuals react to unification and how have they conceived the country’s national identity and its new international position? This important book not only examines changing notions of nationhood and their complicated relationship to the Nazi past but also charts the wider history of the development of German political thought since World War II—while critically reflecting on some of the continuing blind spots among German writers and thinkers.Jan-Werner Müller explains why many intellectuals reacted so defensively to unification and why unification plunged the Left in particular into a major crisis that is yet to be overcome. He analyzes the responses of Günter Grass, Jürgen Habermas, and others of the so-called skeptical generation, who broke with the tradition of the illiberal interwar intellectuals and reinvented themselves as a “democratic elite” who sought to transform political culture after the war—and tried to do so again after 1989. He discusses the German idea of “constitutional patriotism” as well as the antinationalism of the “generation of 1968,” and provides the first full-scale analysis of Germany’s “New Right.” Written clearly and elegantly, the book assesses the acrimonious debates about the future of the nation-state and public memory in Germany and offers more general reflections on the role intellectuals can play in post-totalitarian societies.

In this brilliant guide to modern European political ideas and thinkers spans the twentieth century, the author illuminates both the twentieth-century's ideological extremes and how Europeans built lasting liberal democracies in the second half of the century.This book is the first major account of political thought in twentieth-century Europe, both West and East, to appear since the end of the Cold War. Skillfully blending intellectual, political, and cultural history, Jan-Werner Müller elucidates the ideas that shaped the period of ideological extremes before 1945 and the liberalization of West European politics after the Second World War. He also offers vivid portraits of famous as well as unjustly forgotten political thinkers and the movements and institutions they inspired.Müller pays particular attention to ideas advanced to justify fascism and how they relate to the special kind of liberal democracy that was created in postwar Western Europe. He also explains the impact of the 1960s and neoliberalism, ending with a critical assessment of today's self-consciously post-ideological age.

Carl Schmitt (1888-1985) was one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant and disturbing critics of liberalism. He was also one of the most important intellectuals to offer his services to the Nazis, for which he was dubbed the “crown jurist of the Third Reich.” Despite this fateful alliance Schmitt has exercised a profound influence on post-war European political and legal thought—on both the Right and the Left. In this illuminating book, Jan-Werner Müller traces for the first time the permutations of Schmitt’s ideas after the Second World War and relates them to broader political developments in Europe.Offering a fresh account of Schmitt’s life and career along with discussions of his key concepts, Müller explains why interest in the political theorist continues. He assesses the current uses of Schmitt’s thought in debates on globalization and the quest for a liberal world order. He also offers new insights into the liberalization of political thinking in post-authoritarian societies and the persistent vulnerabilities and blind spots of certain strands of Western liberalism.

Constitutional Patriotism offers a new theory of citizenship and civic allegiance for today's culturally diverse liberal democracies. Rejecting conventional accounts of liberal nationalism and cosmopolitanism, Jan-Werner Muller argues for a form of political belonging centered on universalist norms, adapted for specific constitutional cultures. At the same time, he presents a novel approach to thinking about political belonging and the preconditions of democratic legitimacy beyond the nation-state. The book takes the development of the European Union as a case study, but its lessons apply also to the United States and other parts of the world. Muller's essay starts with an engaging historical account of the origins and spread of the concept of constitutional patriotism-the idea that political attachment ought to center on the norms and values of a liberal democratic constitution rather than a national culture or the "global human community." In a more analytical part, he then proposes a critical conception of citizenship that makes room for dissent and civil disobedience while taking seriously a polity's need for stability over time.Muller's theory of constitutional patriotism responds to the challenges of the de facto multiculturalism of today's states--with a number of concrete policy implications about immigration and the preconditions for citizenship clearly spelled out. And it asks what civic empowerment could mean in a globalizing world.

A powerful rethinking of citizenship and democratic belonging for a global ageConstitutional Patriotism offers a bold theory of citizenship and civic allegiance for today’s culturally diverse liberal democracies. Rejecting conventional accounts of liberal nationalism and cosmopolitanism, Jan-Werner Müller argues for a form of political belonging centered on universalist norms, adapted for specific constitutional cultures. At the same time, he presents a novel approach to thinking about political belonging and the preconditions of democratic legitimacy beyond the nation-state. The book takes the development of the European Union as a case study, but its lessons apply also to the United States and other parts of the world.Müller’s essay starts with an engaging historical account of the origins and spread of the concept of constitutional patriotism-the idea that political attachment ought to center on the norms and values of a liberal democratic constitution rather than a national culture or the “global human community.” In a more analytical part, he then proposes a critical conception of citizenship that makes room for dissent and civil disobedience while taking seriously a polity’s need for stability over time. Müller’s theory of constitutional patriotism responds to the challenges of the de facto multiculturalism of today’s states—with a number of concrete policy implications about immigration and the preconditions for citizenship clearly spelled out. And it asks what civic empowerment could mean in a globalizing world.

Donald Trump, Silvio Berlusconi, Marine Le Pen, Hugo ChÁvez-populists are on the rise across the globe. But what exactly is populism? Should everyone who criticizes Wall Street or Washington be called a populist? What precisely is the difference between right-wing and left-wing populism? Does populism bring government closer to the people or is it a threat to democracy? Who are "the people" anyway and who can speak in their name? These questions have never been more pressing.In this groundbreaking volume, Jan-Werner MÜller argues that at populism's core is a rejection of pluralism. Populists will always claim that they and they alone represent the people and their true interests. MÜller also shows that, contrary to conventional wisdom, populists can govern on the basis of their claim to exclusive moral representation of the people: if populists have enough power, they will end up creating an authoritarian state that excludes all those not considered part of the proper "people." The book proposes a number of concrete strategies for how liberal democrats should best deal with populists and, in particular, how to counter their claims to speak exclusively for "the silent majority" or "the real people."Analytical, accessible, and provocative, What Is Populism? is grounded in history and draws on examples from Latin America, Europe, and the United States to define the characteristics of populism and the deeper causes of its electoral successes in our time.

"Bertolt Brecht formulerade följande sats: "All makt kommer från folket. Men vart tar den vägen?" Jan-Werner Müller, en av vår tids främsta statsvetare, har använt en stor del av sin forskning till att söka ge svar på frågan." /Olle Svenning i Aftonbladet "Det är en akademisk bok, men med en angelägenhet för debatten som få. Det Müller beskriver är alldeles nödvändigt att förstå för att vi ska kunna förhålla oss till det på ett konstruktivt sätt, för populismen, inte minst den högerpopulism som är den som har störst genomslag just nu, kan i förlängningen verkligen hota våra demokratiska samhällsskick." /Torbjörn Elensky i SvD Populister överallt, till höger och till vänster, i Europa, i USA och i Latinamerika. Så ter sig det politiska landskapet i dag. Populismen drar fram som ett spöke. Men vem är egentlig populist? Alla som vänder sig mot etablissemanget, mot eliterna? Vad är skillnaden mellan vänster- och högerpopulism? Vad är "folket" - och vem kan tala i dess namn? I denna högaktuella essä skisserar Jan-Werner Müller en teori om populismen som en otvivelaktigt antidemokratisk företeelse. Populisternas slagord är: "Vi är folket!" Vad de menar är: "Vi - och bara vi - representerar folket". Därmed stämplas alla som tänker annorlunda, oavsett om det är motdemonstranter på gatan eller riksdagsledamöter, som illegitima, oavsett med hur många procent av rösterna en officiell representant har valts in i parlamentet. Alla populister är emot "the establishment" - men alla som kritiserar eliter är inte populister. Populister är alltid antipluralistiska; den som motsätter sig dem och bestrider deras anspråk på att representera det "äkta folket" hör automatiskt inte till detta folk. Och när populister får tillräcklig makt skapar de auktoritära stater som utesluter alla som inte hör dit. Mot bakgrund av sin analys av populismen föreslår Müller olika konkreta strategier för att bemöta populisters anspråk på att tala "den tysta majoritetens" sak och därmed skydda liberala demokratier mot det populistiska hotet. Müller kombinerar politisk teori och historia i sin skarpa analys. Med exempel från Europa, USA och Latinamerika spårar han orsakerna till populismens framgång i våra dagar. Jan-Werner Müller är professor i statsvetenskap vid Princeton University. Han är författare till bland annat "Demokratins tidsålder. Politiska idéer i 1900-talets Europa".