"The current crisis of liberal democracy goes to the heart of the idea of representative government. This important book makes a very valuable contribution to the debate on how to fix political institutions and reconnect citizens with their elected representatives. It is essential reading for scholars, politicians, and concerned citizens."

-Adrian Pabst, professor at Kent University and author of The Demons of Liberal Democracy

"The Broken Contract offers new insights to an age-old question--how can we make representative democracy work better? Saqib Qureshi takes a comprehensive look at the workings of representative democracy from citizens to institutions."

-Donald J Savoie, professor at Moncton University, former president of the Canadian Political Science Association, author of What is Government Good At? A Canadian Answer

"The Broken Contract is a fearless, refreshing, and brilliant book, filled with insights into some of the biggest problems and challenges in western democracies. An invigorating breath of fresh air that will do much to blow away some important cobwebs." 

-Peter Frankopan, professor at Oxford University and author of The Silk Roads 

The Broken Contract is one of those timely, accessible books that gets under your skin. Lucidly written, but thorough in its approach, it opens up an important debate on how we deal with the fact that more and more people are fed up with democracies.
"Progressives are often expected to call for stronger, more expansive government, to deal with our growing global and social crises. Conservatives often call for policies that use the idea of 'small government' to instead invite in massive political power for corporations. But Dr. Saqib Qureshi makes clear that these polarised approaches might be missing the point, especially when governments become unaccountable sites of corruption, inefficiency, and cronyism.“

-Dr. Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, research fellow, Schumacher Institute; columnist at VICE; author of A User's Guide the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save It

"A deeply personal and passionately engaged contribution to an important debate, which speaks directly to many of the core moral and political problems presented by democratic backsliding today."

-Aziz Huq, professor at Chicago University and co-author of How to Save a Constitutional Democracy

"Markham, Toronto, Canada, is not exactly ancient Athens but then nor was ancient Athenian democracy all that similar to democracy in Canada or the United States today, about which distinguished social entrepreneur and cultural commentator Dr. Saqib Iqbal Qureshi writes so urgently and so engagingly. On the other hand, an ancient Athenian democrat could not but applaud Dr. Qureshi's overriding concerns to make our democracies more closely representative of the interests and needs as well as desires of all their participants and members, and above all his preoccupation with the accountability of office-holders. One of the earliest definitions of democracy on record--from ancient Greece--includes, alongside majority decision-making and preferred use of the lottery for office-filling, the accountability of all office-holders, however selected. If our broken democracies are to be contractually revived and positively reconstructed, Dr. Qureshi's splendid book can serve as a go-to manual."

-Paul Cartledge, professor at Cambridge University and author of Democracy: A Life

“The Broken Contract takes the reader through just what the heck is going on in our 'democracy' and then provides a way forward on how to change things for the better."

-Goldy Hyder, CEO, Canadian Business Council

"This is a book about distance: the distance between government and the governed, between action and accountability, and between the traditionally privileged and the growing power of diverse communities. And more importantly, it is a book about closing those gaps. Dr. Qureshi offers specific observations and concrete proposals for making government more efficient, more accountable, and more representative. He suggests reforms that would result in a more nimble and responsive government as well as much greater transparency; crucially, he does not overlook the problem of how the public takes in and processes vast amounts of information under a truly transparent government. This book could serve equally well as the platform for a reform party or the charter of a well-governed corporation."

-Colin McRoberts, lecturer at the University of Kansas School of Business

"The Broken Contract deftly addresses the fundamental political problem of our age: how to fix democracy in the age of technological and social disruption."

-Daniel Lanyon, editor in chief, AltFi.com

"A very incisive and insightful book, which combines revealing personal observations with a keen political and sociological study of the foundations of democracy. Good read for both students of the subject and concerned citizens."

-Amitai Etzioni, author of Reclaiming Patriotism, and professor at The George Washington University

"The current turmoil in our politics is sparked by the impatience of people who live in the accountable world (business, sports, and other places where performance drives destiny) with the people who live in the unaccountable world (civil servants, tenured professors, unionized public employees). The genius of Saqib Qureshi's book is that he provides practical tactics to improve the performance and accountability of vast bureaucracies without blowing up the whole system. The price of not heeding his advice might well be revolution. Read it now to see what's coming and learn how the worst can be avoided."

-Richard Miniter, author of Leading from Behind and Shadow War, award-winning investigative journalist, and CEO of American Media Institute.

"Anyone who has ever been made to feel small and foolish by a government worker, anyone who finds politicians to be phony and self-serving as never before, anyone who wonders why projects don't get finished and cost five times their estimate, will find this book superbly illuminating. Saqib Qureshi lays bare the extraordinary perks of government careers, out-of-touch personalities of elected and unelected officials, and utter waste and unaccountability of this and that state enterprise in patient exposition. Reading this book will make you a more wary citizen."

-Mark Bauerlein, professor at Emory University, author of The Dumbest Generation and The Digital Divide

"Anyone who has ever been made to feel small and foolish by a government worker, anyone who finds politicians to be phony and self-serving as never before, anyone who wonders why projects don't get finished and cost five times their estimate, will find this book superbly illuminating. Saqib Qureshi lays bare the extraordinary perks of government careers, out-of-touch personalities of elected and unelected officials, and utter waste and unaccountability of this and that state enterprise in patient exposition. Reading this book will make you a more wary citizen."

-Mark Bauerlein, professor at Emory University, author of The Dumbest Generation and The Digital Divide

"A fresh take on the centuries-old debate over Jean-Jacques Rousseau's theory of the Social Contract; how do democracies maintain faith between citizens and the governments they elect? Qureshi's Broken Contract is straightforward, passionate, and at times surprising."

-Dan Boylan, Washington Times

"I wish we had Saqib Qureshi’s The Broken Contract 10 or 20 years ago. Maybe we would never have forgotten what government is for and we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in today. But I’m thankful it’s here now, when we most need it. Alone, this book will not save American democracy. No book can do that. But it could help us begin to right the ship, and that makes it essential reading"

--Wajahat Ali, CNN commentator and New York Times writer"I wish we had Saqib Qureshi’s The Broken Contract 10 or 20 years ago. Maybe we would never have forgotten what government is for and we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in today. But I’m thankful it’s here now, when we most need it. Alone, this book will not save American democracy. No book can do that. But it could help us begin to right the ship, and that makes it essential reading"

-Wajahat Ali, CNN commentator and New York Times writer

“The book is by turns witty and wonky, clearly well-researched, thoughtfully written, pleasingly approachable, pleasantly accessible, and provocative in all the right ways. I enjoyed reading this book and returning to its arguments time and again. Qureshi has outlined for us a path forward, back to the promise of democracy and away from its betrayal and deterioration.” 

-Dr Uchenna Ekwo, The City University of New York

“The protests and political turbulence seen around the world in the past two years is in part a reaction against ineffective governance. 

The Broken Contract: Making Our Democracies Accountable, Representative and Less Wasteful by Dr. Saqib Iqbal Qureshi offers several intriguing ideas to deal with the general malaise, which is threatening good governance. 

As he points out, when even the government of North Korea describes itself as “democratic” the term is almost meaningless. Instead, we should focus on improving governance. 

These are well known public policy issues but  Qureshi, who worked at McKinsey, offers new insights and fresh examples, many drawn from Canada where he lives. Qureshi acted as a government consultant and draws on the experience of his long career in suggesting ways that governance can be improved. Rather than making workers “employees for life,” bureaucracies should become better human resource managers. 

That means firing under performers and rewarding rising stars. This book offers other helpful advice and is available for pre-order on Amazon. You can’t fight city hall, as the saying goes, but armed with Qureshi’s book we may have a fighting chance.”

-ARAB NEWS.COM

"The current crisis of liberal democracy goes to the heart of the idea of representative government. This important book makes a very valuable contribution to the debate on how to fix political institutions and reconnect citizens with their elected representatives. It is essential reading for scholars, politicians, and concerned citizens."

-Adrian Pabst, professor at Kent University and author of The Demons of Liberal Democracy