This is the best book to date on the effect of globalization on democracy. Schneider and Thomson demonstrate that globalization has led mainstream parties to break electoral promises, move to the centre, use more ambiguous language, and so undermine the central mechanisms of electoral accountability. Not surprisingly, many voters are tempted by the simple and nationalist promises of populist politicians. The solution, they contend, is that mainstream parties adopt clearer policy positions on things they know they can deliver. Whether that will be enough to restore democracy and address inequalities caused by globalization is for future investigation.

The accomplished authors carefully build a persuasive argument that globalization has harmed the ability of traditional parties to honour manifesto promises, undermining voter trust and opening the field to upstart populist parties. A valuable source for anyone interested in the increasing polarization of modern politics.

This book addresses a critical problem today: how can democratic governments deal with the constraints of globalization, given its benefits? Can these governments keep the promises their parties make to their publics? The findings are novel and disturbing. Democratic representation and accountability do not work well with globalization. To maintain public trust, democracies may need to move from the extant version of promissory accountability to a new model. The combination of broad democratic theory, strong quantitative evidence, and impressive qualitative research create a powerful narrative.

This book profoundly contributes to debates about political representation and democratic backsliding in a globalizing economy. Mainstream parties especially on the left struggle to keep their commitments when economies are integrated. Impressively, the study uses global data about party policies and conducts survey experiments in well-targeted case studies. A provocative implication suggests that closed economies contribute to better representation.

This outstanding book offers a compelling analysis of how economic globalization challenges the quality of democracy. Drawing on original data and sophisticated multi-method analysis, it shows that globalization increasingly constrains governing parties’ ability to keep campaign promises, at significant political cost to these parties. By providing novel insights into promise keeping, the adaptation of parties to these globalization-induced challenges, and the problematic consequences of these developments, this book makes a timely and important contribution to the study of contemporary democracy.