When and to what extent can we say that democracy exists? How is its future shaping? Is the far-right and fascism truly at our doorstep?

The first part of the book explores the characteristics of modern democracy, highlighting its relationship with the economic and environmental crisis, its chronic as well as current pathologies, the rise of the far-right, and attempts to diagnose the potential trends of its evolution. Is humanity heading towards the end or towards the rebirth of democracy?

The second part specializes in the above problematic by analyzing democracy in the U.S., which at least until recently was presented by many as a model. It analyzes the significance and particularities of the electoral system, documents the relationship of American democracy with the elites, and questions whether the structural crisis afflicting it can lead to a fundamental democratic change or to a regime of exclusion and repression, even cultural collapse.