AI Summary
5 min readLiberal democracy’s self-inflicted crisis
Daron Acemoglu, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, argues that liberal democracy did not collapse because of external enemies. It scored its own goals. In his new book What Happened to Liberal Democracy? Remaking a Politics of Shared Prosperity, he traces the unraveling to a deep structural shift that began in the late 1970s: the transition from an industrial to a post-industrial economy. That transition broke the mechanism that had once made liberalism deliver on its central promise—shared prosperity—and simultaneously split the political coalitions that had sustained liberal democracy for decades.
The industrial economy’s accidental bargain
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:03) **Introduction: The Crisis of Liberal Democracy** - Host Peter Tharsen frames the episode: the post-WWII consensus that free markets and liberal democracy go hand-in-hand is now in tatters.
- 2 (01:26) **Guest Introduction: Daron Acemoglu** - Nobel Prize-winning economist and author of the new book *What Happened to Liberal Democracy?*
- 3 (02:20) **When Did Liberal Democracy Go Wrong?** - Acemoglu dates the crisis to the late 1970s, with roots in the 1960s.
- 4 (06:47) **The Role of the Cold War and Liberalism’s Own Goals** - The fall of the Berlin Wall emboldened conservatives, but the crisis is internal to liberalism itself.
- 5 (10:41) **Surprise at the Backlash** - Acemoglu admits he was surprised by the anti-democratic backlash, which predates the 2008 financial crisis.
- 6 (12:19) **Is This a US-Only Story?** - The trends are global, not just American or British.
- 7 (14:43) **The Economic Core: Shared Prosperity and the Industrial Economy** - Acemoglu’s core argument: liberal democracy’s coalition was built on shared prosperity, voice/self-government, and high-quality public services.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Daron Acemoglu has spent years studying the origins of prosperity. Now he says the institutions, laws and freedoms that made the West rich are under threat. On this episode of The Big View, the Nobel laureate tells Peter Thal Larsen why any solution starts with the working class.
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