Includes bibliographical references (pages 282-297) and index.

In this age of Democracy Victorious, why have the most successful governments disdained the ideals of America's founding fathers in favor of the sometimes cruel efficiency of authoritarianism? Why have thinly disguised dictatorships like Taiwan and Singapore achieved enormous successes, while the West is continually mired in gridlock? Because, Kennon asserts, the world has become so complicated, and the pace of change so rapid, that only highly trained, anonymous technocrats invested with enormous authority are capable of guiding a nation's affairs. To trust unskilled politicians, vulnerable to corruption and ignorant of the most basic rules of governing, with the fate of a nation is, in Kennon's view, the height of folly.

Like Machiavelli five hundred years ago, Kennon casts a cynical eye on political idealism at a seminal time in history. The Twilight of Democracy will disturb many and anger others, but its argument is so calmly rational, and cogently presented, that no reader will be able to dismiss lightly this daring challenge to conventional wisdom.

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