The Dispersion of Power: A Critical Realist Theory of Democracy
Oxford University Press, 2024
The Dispersion of Power is an urgent call to rethink centuries of conventional wisdom about what democracy is, why it matters, and how to make it better. Drawing from history, social science, psychology, and critical theory, it explains why elections do not and cannot realize the classic ideal of popular rule, and why prevailing strategies of democratic reform often make things worse. Instead, I argue, we should see democracy as a way of protecting public power from capture—an alternative vision that is at once more realistic and more inspiring.
Despite their many shortcomings, real-world elections do prevent the most extreme forms of tyranny, and are therefore indispensable. In dealing with the vast inequalities that remain, however, we cannot rely on standard solutions such as electoral reform, direct democracy, deliberation, and participatory governance. Instead, I show, protecting and enriching democracy requires addressing underlying inequalities of power directly. In part, this entails substantive policies attacking the advantages of wealthy elites. Even more crucially, deepening democracy requires the organization of oppositional, countervailing power among ordinary people. Neither task is easy, but historical precedents exist in both cases—and if democracy is to survive contemporary crises, leaders and citizens alike must find ways to revive and reinvent these essential democratic practices for the 21st century.
Available formats
Print (hardcover): Oxford University Press (US) / Oxford University Press (UK) / Amazon (US) / Amazon (UK) / Bookshop.org
Print (paperback): pending decision by OUP
Digital (institutional): Oxford Academic — check if your library subscribes
Digital (personal): Kindle (US) / Kindle (UK) — currently available for £6.99
Digital (open-access): Introduction — email me for access to complete text if above options are unavailable
Related media
2024. Would you sit on a jury to review government regulations? Citizen oversight panels could make this process more open and democratic
The Conversation (April)
2024. The Dispersion of Power: Samuel Bagg’s Urgent Call to Redefine Democracy (interview / Q&A about the book)
Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies (March)
2023. Two Fallacies of Democratic Design (summarizing key arguments from book and related articles)
Law and Political Economy Blog (July)
Advance praise
Named one of the most anticipated books of the year by the Law and Political Economy Blog
“Democrats have failed to confront the realities of power, Samuel Bagg compellingly argues, frustrating their own hopes by thinking about democracy itself the wrong way. In doing so, they have helped reproduce hierarchy rather than prioritize mechanisms to counteract the risk of state capture. Few books are both important and original in their provocation, and even fewer explore an arresting insight with the generality and specifics to make it potent. The Dispersion of Power does all of this—and more.”
- Samuel Moyn, Yale University
“In recent years, there have been many abstract appeals for ‘realism’ in political theory. Samuel Bagg’s excellent book demonstrates concretely how to be a realist, while holding on to democratic hopes. In an account both subtle and bracing, Bagg focuses on the dangers of concentrated power; and he shows a real path to organizing countervailing powers in order to resist capture of the state by private interests.”
- Jan-Werner Müller, Princeton University
“In this impressive and compelling contribution to realist democratic theory, Samuel Bagg invites us to think about the ways that the concentration of power and money radically disrupts our ideals and practices of democracy. Bagg not only reviews the weaknesses of more conventional ideals of democracy but also outlines multiple practical strategies to fight the scourge of private wealth in politics. The Dispersion of Power is an urgent and important reminder that protecting the democratic state against oligarchic capture should take priority in our efforts to save democracy in this time of peril.”
- Simone Chambers, University of California Irvine
“One of the most important developments in recent political theory is the growth of realist accounts and defenses of democratic politics. In that exciting wave of scholarship, Samuel Bagg has written the most intellectually ambitious book. He treats the central problem of politics as the management and checking of power, not the expression of collective will. From those chastened premises he seeks to build a grand reconciliation of democratic theory with liberal protections and with radical purposes. Realism is often accused of being minimalist, conservative, or sterile. This challenging and major work sets a new standard for what it is like to put realist thought to constructive and far-reaching work.”
- Jacob T. Levy, McGill University