Democracy at Risk

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Democracies are at risk of backsliding. Many formerly stable democracies are facing growing polarization, misinformation, and a lack of faith in democratic institutions. This crisis of confidence invites a normative reassessment of democratic institutions at multiple levels. The papers featured on this panel offer original and timely answers to fundamental questions in democratic theory. These include: Why is democracy preferable to authoritarian alternatives? How should democratic actors fight democratic backsliding and what are the virtues required to succeed? Which reforms to democratic institutions are likely to avoid the worst problems facing democracies today?

Sub Unit

• Division 3: Normative Theory

Individual Presentations

• Democratic Risks - Alexandra Oprea, University at Buffalo; Daniel Stephens, Duke Kunshan University

• A Coordination Game of Electoral Representation and the Quality of Democracy - Ryan Pevnick, New York University; Dimitri Landa, NYU

• Elite Forbearance as a Requirement of Democratic Stability - Sean Ingham, University of California, San Diego

• Understanding Democracy’s Value: Why Pluralism Should Be Preferred to Parsimony - Jeff Spinner-Halev, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Alexander Kirshner, Duke University

Chair

• Clarissa Rile Hayward Washington University in St. Louis

Discussants

• Emilee Chapman Stanford University

• Suzanne Dovi University of Arizona