Why do Western democracies at once offer their citizens the greatest freedoms and opportunities and yet are unable to solve many of their fundamental problems? Critique Abandoned looks at how citizens of modern democracies think about public policy matters, with examples that investigate the Mideast/Central Asia, US post-9/11 foreign policy, and the global economy, among others. The book looks at the consequences of failing to think critically for both the issue at hand and for democracy itself.