INNER DEMOCRACY

Inner Democracy Empowering the Mind Against a Polarizing Society investigates the psychological backgrounds of contemporary societal problems such as hate speech authoritarianism and divisive forms of identity politics and how we can counter such destructive forces. The book argues that a democratic society needs citizens who do more than just express their preference for free elections freedom of speech and respect of constitutional rights. Rather democracy is vital only if it is deeply rooted in the hearts minds and selves of its participants. In the field of tension created by societal power clashes and absolute truth pretensions the book investigates how opposition cooperation and participation work as innovative forces in a democratic self. Democracy is understood as a personal learning process and as a dialogical play between thought and counterthought between imagination and counterimagination and between emotion and reason. Written for social scientists teachers journalists and parents who are interested in the facilitation of democracy in a wide variety of situations this book proposes inner democracy as an antidote against the widespread polarization in our society.