Renowned globally for his creative thinking about democracy, John Keane is Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney and at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB). Among his best-known recent books are Global Civil Society? (Cambridge University Press, 2003), Violence and Democracy (Cambridge University Press, 2004), and the highly-acclaimed The Life and Death of Democracy (2009).
'With impressive intellectual breadth and rich analytic insight, John Keane's engaging new book moves us beyond conventional ways of thinking about media and democracy. Addressing key debates, his writing is, as always, accessible, compelling, and edifying.' Peter Dahlgren, Lund University 'Vanquishing received wisdom and resisting cliche, John Keane charts the transformative impact of communicative abundance. Invoking McCluhan, Derrida, Curran and others, he perceptively constructs a significant vision: an emerging 'monitory democracy' dependent on new roles for media and very new relationships between media institutions, technology and society.' Monroe E. Price, Director, Center for Global Communications Studies, University of Pennsylvania, and Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law 'John Keane doesn't answer all your questions about the new media and democracy - but he makes it impossible for you to credit those who pretend to. In energetic, sometimes gripping, prose he offers indispensable conceptual tools (particularly 'monitory democracy') for a fresh look at where democracy stands in an age of communicative abundance teetering on the edge of communicative decay. A brilliant work!' Michael Schudson, Columbia Journalism School