Intelligent Democracy: Responding to the New Democratic Scepticism
Greenwood, D. 2025. Intelligent Democracy: Responding to the New Democratic Scepticism. Res Publica. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-025-09751-w
Greenwood, D. 2025. Intelligent Democracy: Responding to the New Democratic Scepticism. Res Publica. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-025-09751-w
| Title | Intelligent Democracy: Responding to the New Democratic Scepticism |
|---|---|
| Type | Book review |
| Authors | Greenwood, D. |
| Abstract | Jonathan Benson’s Intelligent Democracy is a direct response to the ‘new democratic scepticism’ in political theory and political economy. As Benson explains, these varying forms of scepticism have roots in some contrasting economic traditions, ranging from mainstream Neoclassical economics to Hayekian political economy. However, they share an epistemological line of argument that argues democracy lacks the capacity to acquire and act upon knowledge. Benson’s case for the intelligence of democracy responds to this scepticism on its own terms. He challenges the shared emphasis of these sceptics upon the intelligence of markets. Adopting an explicitly normative conception of intelligence, democracy, he argues, is suited to capturing ‘other regarding’ ethical values that tend to be externalised by markets. For Benson, rather than elections alone, a plurality of institutions is required to foster such intelligence. Situated in the ‘philosophy, politics and economics’ (PPE) tradition, Benson’s work offers a re-balancing of the pro-market orientation of the current PPE literature on democracy and markets. The book offers a potential framework for comparing different institutional arrangements that might involve different configurations of political and market processes. |
| Keywords | Democracy |
| Knowledge | |
| Scepticism | |
| Intelligence | |
| Deliberation | |
| Journal | Res Publica |
| ISSN | 1572-8692 |
| 1356-4765 | |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publisher | Springer |
| Accepted author manuscript | File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1007/s11158-025-09751-w |
| Publication dates | |
| Published online | 01 Dec 2025 |