Carol Gould’s meditations represent an important challenge to contemporary political theory and practice. For a long time, liberal democracy has been presented not only as the best political regime, but also as a regime that could be implemented within states only and there was little interest to explore how it could be applied also to smaller communities (such as the family and the firm) or to institutions beyond the state (such regional associations or even the United Nations). To limit the scope of liberal democracy to territorial states provided several material advantages: within a clearly identifiable context, it has been possible to improve its institutions and also to urge other nations to adopt it under the assurance that it would deliver prosperity. But does this belief still reflect the contemporary reality?

Gould points out that many politically-active human communities no longer coincide with states. Globalization has made many boundaries irrelevant, as we know too well that employment, economic growth, interest rates, and crime in countries, such as Canada or Mexico, are strongly influenced by the decisions of an elected government in another country or by unaccountable multinational corporations. Interdependence is a growing feature of modern states and examples include migration flows, climate change, security, and financial stability. The natural question is therefore: when we are lucky enough to vote to appoint our government, which real powers do we actually put in its hands? And if other issues are only partially under the direct control of our own government, how does this shape democratic practice?

Developing a long-term research agenda that started more than a quarter-century ago with her Rethinking Democracy, Gould suggests today that democracy needs to be disentangled from the state. For several centuries the state has been the most important laboratory in which democracy is tested, nurtured, and developed. But it can no longer claim to be the only one. Historical transformations, including the increasing interdependence among states, the growth in the number and functions of international organizations, the relevance of transnational social movements, and, last but certainly not least, the technical possibility to connect geographically-distant communities through the Internet, demand a more general theory of democracy. This book is a powerful attempt to explore the challenges ahead, although it is inspired by a notable genealogy that perhaps starts with John Dewey’s advocacy of the democratic personality.

Gould shows how the dominant model of democracy is unable to account for a wide range of social practices. This is particularly evident for social solidarity. On the one hand, there is the implicit assumption that a democratic system requires that feelings of solidarity are extended between fellow citizens. On the other hand, actual solidarity networks are often built across geographical lines that are becoming increasingly transnational. Empathy is one of the pre-conditions that allows institutions to generate political obligations, but often it develops along lines that do not correspond to territorial states. This gives contrasting signals to national and international institutions. National institutions are generally required to provide and satisfy the basic needs of communities precisely because its members somehow feel responsible for the fate of each other, and solidarity justifies the public concern with care and welfare. But in the international arena the opposite occurs: if there is a sense of solidarity with far-away victims of a totalitarian state or of natural disasters, it often emerges precisely because an effective institutional response is lacking. How will it be possible to reconcile the growing transnational solidarity with bounded territorial states? The immediate answer could be to recognize that there is “one big moral community or universal solidarity, a fraternity among human beings generally” (p. 103), which in the long run should lead to corresponding institutional developments.

But Gould is far from advocating, as do other international relations theorists, a world state as the sole solution to the current crisis of democracy. She is well aware that solidarity and the feeling of belonging are often fragmented and that it will not be possible to build a cohesive political community only on the grounds of a universal fraternity. Nevertheless, the transnational solidarity of some groups is significant. Some of the more original pages of this book are devoted to the operation of restricted global epistemic communities, able to bind people who have common cultural interests, religious beliefs, or who are simply struggling against the same rare disease. These fragmented communities can no longer be ignored and perhaps could be the first pioneers of the emerging “interactive democracy”—which gives the title to this volume.

In the tradition of normative political philosophy, Gould also provides some suggestions that could facilitate the coming of a democracy fed by the opinions and contributions of citizens. At least three aspects are worth mentioning. The first concerns the potential of regional associations, in which stake-holders could fruitfully participate. Perhaps with the European Union model in mind, Gould is suggesting a multidimensional sphere of participation in which there is more than one authority to which citizens could contribute and appeal. The second is the support that she gives to the idea of a World Parliamentary Assembly within the United Nations, a proposal that was already rather utopian under Obama and that might be considered a simple fantasy with the coming of the Trump administration. But Gould reminds us that dialogue and persuasion, even if in an institution devoid of real power, are by far the most effective forms to address political controversies. The third is the careful consideration that she devotes to the Occupy Wall Street Movement (the photo on the book cover emblematically shows the Wall Street Stock Market under siege), a movement that has strongly signalled the discomfort of citizens with the inability of liberal democracy to control the economy and deliver public goods. Carol Gould is certainly in an excellent position to assess the potentials and the limits of this social movement since her son provided one of its most accurate descriptions.

The value of this book is that it clearly identifies the problems in the democratic agenda. It is clearly accurate in indicating that new transnational social movements are an emerging form of democratic organization. But while it provides a fruitful account of the challenges that democratic theory should address, it seems to ignore an important fact: the crisis of liberal democracy is often providing unexpected popular responses that are still difficult to assess. In the United Kingdom and in the United States, in Turkey and in Russia, substantial portions of the population are not interested in developing interactions, but rather are willing to defend their own rights by building walls and excluding others. Gould reminds us that liberal democracy as we know it is in serious peril: either we find a way to radically transform it, giving more voice and decision power to the people, or we might be forced to celebrate its funeral. As a political theorist, Gould provides a message of hope that this transformation is, at least conceptually, possible. Whether it ever would happen receives support is, unfortunately, another story.