With an ambitious government and blessed with natural resources and new found markets, many believed that Brazil was set to be one of the most successful countries of the twenty first century. It hasn't turned out like that. Extraordinary corruption, an economic downturn, shocking rates of murder and widespread protests on the streets have led to a series of political crises which have seen governments thrown out and political leaders jailed.

Over the 2010s decade, even in different contexts and different democracies, the lack of satisfaction of society with politics became an unifying trait that caused riots in Brazil, the United States, France, Egypt and Ukraine. All of those governments fell, whether by force or by elections, but corruption keeps happening in the new governments. "The Paradox of Democracy" analyzes this problem with the help of intellectuals who have been studying 21st-century political science.