The Mechanics of Changing the World argues that war, tax havens and environmental overshoot are insoluble within the current political framework. That present-day politics is a ‘displacement activity’, a substitute for the one thing that can end our crises: to rewrite the political system that generates them. This ‘third draft’ of the democratic ideal flows from the Athenian and Euro-American ‘drafts’: rewiring democracy, institution by institution, to match it to all we’ve learned about human nature since 1789. The last half-century has seen the antiwar movement, perestroika, Tiananmen, Occupy and the Arab Spring. Strong ideals, and strong popular support-yet none built anything lasting. One-off campaigns are fragile. Changing the world needs more than inspired troubleshooting: it needs architecture.
