nobody's nowhere place

To put it bluntly, they want democracy only if it is largely powerless - or as Ken Livingstone, the current left-wing mayor of London said in a 1987 book title, If Voting Changed Anything They'd Abolish It.

Thus seen, like the old liberals, neo-liberals believe deep down that giving political power to those who 'do not have a stake' in the existing economic system will inevitably result in an 'irrational' modification of the status quo in terms of distribution of property (and other economic) rights. However, unlike their intellectual predecessors, neo-liberals live in an era when they cannot openly oppose democracy, so they try to do it by discrediting politics in general. By discrediting politics in general, they gain legitimacy for their actions that take away decision powers from the democratically elected representatives. In doing so, neo-liberals have succeeded in diminishing the scope of democratic control without ever openly criticizing democracy itself.

Ha-Joon Chang Bad Samaritans, p.176

장하준 교수의 "나쁜 사마리아인"은 여러가지로 꺼려지는 것들이 있어서 읽기를 주저했는데, 최근에 다 읽을 수 있었다(외국에 있다보니 도서관에서 빌릴 수 있는 건 영문본. 죄송). 학술서라기보단 뭐라할까, 정치팜플렛같다는 생각이 계속 들었는데(저자도 그걸 목표로 한듯), 과연 이게 번역되어 한국에서 읽히는게 실제로 한국의 어떤 사람들에게 도움이 될까 안 될까 읽는 내내 헷갈렸다(한국사정을 잘 몰라서 그런 것일까?).