The Undemocratic Liberalism of Democracy

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To run a democratic society in modern times, you need an immense amount of technocratic expertise. Democracy can't be unconstrained; if it is, it very swiftly becomes unbridled majoritarianism. Many of these are run by technocratic bodies just as the economy is constrained by them. I think when things go reasonably well and people are reasonably content, they can live with this because they recognize that they don't want to run everything in their society. But when things are not going well, it's very easy and attractive to listen to somebody who says all these various institutions ... are stopping us from doing what we want to do. And what we obviously need to do, these constraints

In the first of this four-part series, the renowned FT columnist and economist Martin Wolf tells the FT’s executive opinion editor Jonathan Derbyshire why he fears the marriage of liberal economics and democracy may be facing its toughest test in decades. Drawing on arguments in his latest book, The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism, Martin explains how his own life story and career have shaped his views.

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Martin Wolf: in defence of democratic capitalism

For Martin’s FT columns click here

For the FT review of Martin’s book click here

This episode is presented by Jonathan Derbyshire. The producer is Laurence Knight. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa and the sound engineer is Breen Turner. The FT's global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley.

Clips: BBC, CNN, Fox News

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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