Has liberal democracy failed us? In recent years we’ve come to think of politics as the preserve of the technocrat – professional, pragmatic, devoid of big ideas or meaningful ideological framework. Perhaps that’s why turnout at UK elections continues to plummet. But our assumptions of the benevolence of democratic liberalism are under attack from all angles, and from some unlikely sources. This issue of IAI News sees a series of concerted attempts – by journalists, authors, politicians, even a biologist – to bring philosophy back into mainstream politics in order to rescue the democratic project.

One of today's most outspoken voices is Guardian columnist and author Owen Jones. Jones blames the failure of liberal democracy on today's political elites. “Our social order is totally bankrupt,” he says. What’s missing, he says, is hope. In The Burning Flame of Hope, Jones urges "conviction, determination and courage” in order to achieve tangible political change.