I have been writing here on Continuations and in my book World After Capital that we need to be vigilant and defend democracy. Many people are taking the Brexit vote as evidence that direct democracy is a bad idea. While I am not necessarily a strong advocate for direct democracy I do think this conclusion is flawed. The UK does not have a direct democracy culture. In fact this is only the third referendum ever held in the UK! Why does this matter? Because if you want any shot at direct democ...

I have been writing here on Continuations and in my book World After Capital that we need to be vigilant and defend democracy. Many people are taking the Brexit vote as evidence that direct democracy is a bad idea. While I am not necessarily a strong advocate for direct democracy I do think this conclusion is flawed. The UK does not have a direct democracy culture. In fact this is only the third referendum ever held in the UK! Why does this matter? Because if you want any shot at direct democ...

I went to bed last night at a time when some of the early results started to indicate that Brexit might happen and woke up to that reality. Here are some thoughts that are kicking around my head: 1. The results are another example of how easy it is to underestimate the level of frustration that has accumulated in parts of the population. The better the system is working for you the easier it is to make this mistake. The US presidential election is another clear example. 2. The easiest and mos...

I went to bed last night at a time when some of the early results started to indicate that Brexit might happen and woke up to that reality. Here are some thoughts that are kicking around my head: 1. The results are another example of how easy it is to underestimate the level of frustration that has accumulated in parts of the population. The better the system is working for you the easier it is to make this mistake. The US presidential election is another clear example. 2. The easiest and mos...