VII. Conclusion

This paper suggests a way of conceptualizing the contemporary state of democratic dysfunction in American politics, to help inform diagnoses and possible interventions. Democracy, we have suggested, is more than a specific institutional form; rather, it is a sociological, economic, and political condition of broad, equal, protected, mutually-binding consultation.¹

Democratic functioning, understood in this way, depends on a set of underlying institutions and infrastructures in order to ensure responsive, inclusive, accountable, and effective governance. First, existing democratic institutions may be undermined by changes to internal political culture and tactics—particularly with the rise of polarization, hardball, norm erosion, and identity politics. Second, democracy requires socioeconomic conditions that dismantle and prevent systematic forms of exclusion and inequality. Third, democracy requires political institutions that enable both effective government that can address public problems, and accountable institutions through which constituencies can make themselves heard. This in turn requires a rethinking of some of the pathologies arising from our current constitutional and electoral institutional systems. Fourth, democracy requires a civic infrastructure—civil society, parties, and a public sphere which make possible the ability of constituencies to mobilize, organize, and participate in democratic politics.

Focusing on these complementary and related infrastructures helps organize the diagnosis of how democratic politics today falls short of democratic ideals and what interventions may be needed. Indeed, a key need for democratic institutions is that they be resilient to new pressures. Secular trends like demographic shifts, migration, and technological change place greater pressure on democracy: increasing polarization, gaps in political lean and power across states, or new forms of economic inequality and media disinformation.

These dynamics are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they are highly interrelated and dynamic. For example, polarization can interact with demographic sorting and gerrymandering in ways that make hardball politics more likely, and exacerbate disparities of political power. Similarly, economic inequality can increase the wealth and political influence of some actors, which can in turn lead to greater willingness to engage in scorched-earth political tactics and weaponized voter and civil society suppression to maintain political power.

By design, this paper has not offered solutions. Rather it aimed to offer a holistic infrastructural diagnosis of democratic dysfunction; each part of which points to a varied set of interventions. Furthermore, the many different ways in which contemporary democracy falls short of our aspirations underscores how there is no single silver bullet reform to assure democratic functioning. It will require a range of interventions, and in particular solutions that tackle the underlying structural roots of democratic failure.