If Mayors Ruled The World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities

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Can cities solve the biggest problems of the twenty-first century better than nations? Is the city democracy's best hope? In the face of the most perilous challenges of our time-climate change terrorism poverty & trafficking of drugs guns & people-the nations of the world seem paralyzed The problems are too big too interdependent too divisive for the nation-state Is the nation-state once democracy's best hope today democratically dysfunctional? Obsolete? The answer says Benjamin Barber in this highly provocative & original book is yes Cities & the mayors who run them can do & are doing a better job Barber cites the unique qualities cities worldwide share pragmatism civic trust participation indifference to borders & sovereignty & a democratic penchant for networking creativity innovation & cooperation He demonstrates how city mayors singly & jointly are responding to transnational problems more effectively than nation-states mired in ideological infighting & sovereign rivalries Featuring profiles of a dozen mayors around the world-courageous eccentric or both at once-If Mayors Ruled the World presents a compelling new vision of governance for the coming century Barber makes a persuasive case that the city is democracy's best hope in a globalizing world & great mayors are already proving that this is so