The Global Crowds Project explores the resurgence of crowds across the world today. We start by rejecting both the uncritical celebration of the multitude as a direct index of democracy and the pejorative denigration of the mob as a symptom of authoritarian populism. Instead we ask: what can a close and comparative exploration of crowds around the world today tell us about the very substance of contemporary politics? How can it help us to reconsider what we think we know about terms like ‘democracy,’ ‘charisma,’ ‘authority,’ ‘the people,’ and so on?
