Why Politics Fails

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Why is it so hard to get - and keep - the world that we want?Everybody wants breathable air, a healthy population, civil politics. We want a peaceful world, a stable economy. The fundamental point of politics is to deliver them. And yet clearly our political systems are failing. The answer is that politics we aspire to - democracy, equality, solidarity, security and prosperity - is also the politics that creates traps for us.We want democracy, but if everybody's voice was given equal weight, we would never make a decision. We want equality, but we are reluctant to give away our own wealth. We want solidarity, but we are much better at receiving than offering it. We want security, but not if it constrains our freedoms. And we want to end the climate crisis, but we also want a prosperous economy. In every case we want a collective goal but are undermined by our individual actions: our aims are altruistic, but our actions governed by self-interest.But there is hope. Drawing on examples from Ancient Greece through Brexit and using his own award-winning research - on how democracy is more likely to thrive under high inequality, for instance - Oxford professor Ben Ansell explains the cul-de-sac of modern politics - and how we can make it better. Understanding these traps helps us escape or avoid them altogether, in ways small to large, ultimately showing how we can all thrive in an imperfect world.