American academic Sheri Berman explains how this discontent is borne from leaders’ failure to deal with economic challenges that have led to growing inequality, and political scientist Larry Diamond explains how the very basic tenets of democracy have been compromised to serve specific and influential interests.

The new research paper from the American Economic Liberties--entitled Project Democracy for Sale: Examining the Effects of Concentration on Lobbying in the United States (pdf)--was authored by Reed Showalter, an attorney and a fellow at the anti-monopoly group. The willingness to accept anonymous funding makes think tanks the ideal vehicle for companies and business interests to quietly influence government policy. I am not a leaver or a remoaner. I was living abroad from 1994 to 2018, in a far-flung outpost, many thousands of miles from the EU. (in a galaxy far, far away – holed up within an evil Empire and I played no part in the rebellion). I often thought of Star Wars as a conflict brewing much closer to home.

Further reading

Geoghegan’s book, Democracy for Sale, is a plunge into waters we all knew were murky but had chosen not to spend too long gazing at. The book is not about Brexit alone, and indeed its focus moves beyond the continent of Europe, but the Leave campaign and its broader financial and philosophical ecosystem is certainly the animating core of the book. Concentrated markets are bad for consumers, bad for workers, and bad for innovation. But this research suggests that the concentration crisis in America is even more than a purely economic problem--it's also a democracy problem," Showalter said in a statement.

To cite Bojo as a compulsive liar is hilarious. Let’s talk about Tony. Let’s chat about Dave. Let’s forget to mention the husbands of well-known liberal-minded journalists that gad about the big city. Many say, it’s what all politicians do: lie, lie and lie some more. I can’t believe there is any right-minded person in Britain that does not think that. As politics becomes increasingly voracious of time and occupies more and more space on digital media, the scope for hidden influence through spending outside of the narrow regulated window in the period before a vote is all too obvious. I am not familiar with too much discussion on the role of think tanks in the press, which does give it something of a USP. Geoghegan also conducted many interviews but few of the interviewees are willing to be named, so there is quite a lot of reliance on Steve Bannon, who is the protagonist of every political story in his eyes. Generally though, this is a considered text about democracy behind the scenes, and there are certain recurring protagonists such as Matthew Elliott. Many of the same unpleasant tropes and tendencies pop up in central as well as western Europe – though as the book makes clear, Hungary’s Victor Orban is in his own appalling league when it comes to European authoritarianism. The new means are usually the same: remorseless and amoral use of social media prime among them. And, to an alarming extent, the money often comes from the same places: not least the unspeakably wealthy and right-wing Koch brothers, who have either directly or indirectly funded populist movements across the globe. If you wanted to influence politics, the key is not to own individual politicians, but own the political conversation and its dominant agenda.

Themes

The book relies heavily on anecdotes to set the scene, perhaps a bit too much. While breaking down numerous meetings and events succeeds at setting the scene, it does become a bit samey over time. Outside of this though, Democracy For Sale is very effective at laying out modern issues. It concludes with several solution proposals and a further discussion on cronyism in the COVID-19 crisis. This is a brilliant addition to the base book that pushes Geoghegan’s research into recent topics. We are being fed mountains of misinformation through platforms like Facebook and brain washed in how to vote, for example 90% of a sample of Conservative Facebook adverts posted before the election contained misleading information (or lies to the layman). I find that staggering.

But the corruption of democracy is as much about perfectly legal abuse as it is law-breaking malfeasance. The dark money playbook is straightforward. Take advantage of shady campaign financing; circumvent electoral rules where you can; and draw on a network of supportive think tanks, a receptive media run by a handful of magnates and hard-line caucuses within the long-established political parties. As we shall see, the same strategies and tactics are increasingly employed in the UK and across much of the world. From Vote Leave playing fast and loose with electoral law to the international influence campaign underpinning the rise of the populist right in Europe, politicians and their surrogates are increasingly willing to push the boundaries as far as they will go, and beyond. Donald Trump was elected US president in 2016 after a campaign marred by disinformation and electoral interference. u201c3/ What does that mean?\n\nSimply put: dominant corporations are not content to just gobble up & abuse their competitors \u2014 once dominant, they\u2019ll use their power to buy control over your government, too.\u201d — American Economic Liberties Project (@American Economic Liberties Project) This forensic and highly readable book shows how so many of our democratic processes have moved into the murky, unregulated spaces of globalisation and digital innovation' Peter Pomerantsev This super PAC was headed by David Bossie, someone that you might remember from Citizens United, who basically brought dark money into our politics and allowed endless amounts of money to be funneled into these types of vehicles so that we don’t know where all of the money is coming from for these types of manipulative communications. And he was in charge of this campaign.AMY GOODMAN: I mean, it looks like Cambridge Analytica was heading to a billion-dollar corporation. Slowly, the suburban train cut through verdant countryside, past relics of former industrial glory. Sunderland was once, it is said, the largest shipbuilding town in the world. I forgot about the advert, opened my laptop and began drafting my report for the next day’s paper.