I think the industrial world was one of these gigantic agglomerations of humanity. I think preceding even the digital era we had reached maximum aggregation. But for sure right now we're in a moment where nations are splintering. So how do we make that world democratic and as least vicious as we can? The more you empower localities, the cantons, he says somewhere in the book, in one possible future every democracy is Switzerland. That's not a particularly attractive model to me personally, but it is a model.
Author Martin Gurri, Visiting Fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, talks about his book The Revolt of the Public with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Gurri argues that a digital tsunami--the increase in information that the web provides--has destabilized authority and many institutions. He talks about the amorphous nature of recent populist protest movements around the world and where we might be headed politically and culturally.