Democracy for Sale: Dark Money and Dirty Politics

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This title tells the story of how undisclosed donations – ‘dark money’ – have infiltrated British politics, undermining public faith in democracy and fuelling the rise of populism across the West.

Publication dates are subject to change (although this is an extremely uncommon occurrence overall). Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit.One of the most depressing parts of this narrative is the bland indifference of most mainstream UK media to these scandalous events. Politicians lie gleefully, making wild claims that can be shared instantly with millions on social media. We are experiencing delays with deliveries to many countries, but in most cases local services have now resumed. Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. The combination of unaccountable, unreported dark money and its use to create targeted (and contradictory) political messages for individuals and groups means that we have no way of knowing how free and fair our elections have become.

And in the UK, Martin Moore’s landmark study Democracy Hacked showed how, in the space of just one election cycle, authoritarian governments, wealthy elites and fringe hackers figured out how to game elections, bypass democratic processes and turn social networks into battlefields. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Peter Geoghegan is a diligent, brilliant guide through a shadowy world of dark money and digital disinformation stretching from Westminster to Washington, and far beyond.

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Payments made using National Book Tokens are processed by National Book Tokens Ltd, and you can read their Terms and Conditions here. That’s why those who see in the current difficulties of liberal democracies the stirrings of past monsters – Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, to name just three – are always looking in the wrong place. Photograph: Frank Augstein/Pool/Reuters View image in fullscreen ‘These threats to democracy have, for decades, been visible to anyone disposed to look for them’: Boris Johnson in 2019.And again it leaves one wondering why there was so little media exploration of the origins and financing of that particular little cabal. The existential threat to liberal democracy comes from the fact that those who have successfully exploited some inadequacies of the current regulatory system – who include Boris Johnson and his current wingman, Cummings – have absolutely no incentive to fix the system from which they have benefited.