Does hyper-individualism pose a threat to democracy?

Or to put it another way, is freedom now disappearing up its own contradictions?

Battle of Valmy 1792, which embedded the revolutionary idea of citizens' armies; painted by Emile-Jean-Horace Vernet, 1826

I took part a few days ago in the University of Birmingham’s Vice-Chancellor’s “Great Debate”, which asked the question: “Does the rise of individualism mean the end of democracy?”

The thinking behind the question was this. Democracy …