Democracy’s Final Days?
Is an 18th Century invention still up for the 21st?
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Western-style representative democracy is an 18th-century invention that spread worldwide in the latter half of the 20th Century. But with growing disillusionment, rising populism, and unsustainable welfare commitments, some contend that it is ill-equipped to handle the challenges of the 21st. Indeed, the key advantage of democracy, that it could aggregate the diverse views of many, may have reached its limits under the current design.
The Enclosure of Power
In a prior essay, I walked through a very brief history of how modern democracy emerged beginning in the late Middle Ages. I argued that democracy arose both as a result of and as a contributor to, human progress. Democratic systems were able to aggregate the will, wishes, and viewpoints of a greater diversity of voices, and this cognitive diversity translated into better policymaking. What arose was a synergistic feedback loop where new human capabilities spawned new voices and vice…
