Sandel MJ (2024) La democrazia stanca. Nuovi pericoli e possibili soluzioni per tempi difficili. Milan: Feltrinelli.

Abstract

The review examines La democrazia stanca, the updated Italian edition of Michael Sandel’s Democracy’s Discontent (1996). In the book, the author argues that the malaise affecting American democracy - already diagnosed in 1996 as a symptom of the crisis produced by the hegemony of late-twentieth-century liberalism - has intensified in the present day. Through a genealogical reconstruction of American public philosophy, Sandel highlights the decline of the republican tradition and of the civic conception of freedom as self-government that once animated it. According to Sandel, this shift has contributed to the reduction of citizens to mere consumers, the weakening of common institutions, and the growing distrust toward the public sphere. The review underscores the originality of Sandel’s proposal, which seeks to recover elements of republicanism without lapsing into identity-based nationalism, thereby outlining a renewed public philosophy capable of strengthening citizens’ active role in democratic life.