What science can do for democracy: a complexity science approach

Tina Eliassi-Rad; Henry Farrell; David Garcia; Stephan Lewandowsky; Patricia Palacios; Don Ross; Didier Sornette; Karim Thébault; Karoline Wiesner

doi:10.1057/s41599-020-0518-0

What science can do for democracy: a complexity science approach

Tina Eliassi-Rad, Henry Farrell, David Garcia, Stephan Lewandowsky, Patricia Palacios, Don Ross, Didier Sornette, Karim Thébault, Karoline Wiesner

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Political scientists have conventionally assumed that achieving democracy is a one-way ratchet. Only very recently has the question of “democratic backsliding” attracted any research attention. We argue that democratic instability is best understood with tools from complexity science. The explanatory power of complexity science arises from several features of complex systems. Their relevance in the context of democracy is discussed. Several policy recommendations are offered to help (re)stabilize current systems of representative democracy.

Original language	English
Article number	30
Journal	Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
Volume	7
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-0518-0
Publication status	Published - 1 Dec 2020
Externally published	Yes

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title = "What science can do for democracy: a complexity science approach",

abstract = "Political scientists have conventionally assumed that achieving democracy is a one-way ratchet. Only very recently has the question of “democratic backsliding” attracted any research attention. We argue that democratic instability is best understood with tools from complexity science. The explanatory power of complexity science arises from several features of complex systems. Their relevance in the context of democracy is discussed. Several policy recommendations are offered to help (re)stabilize current systems of representative democracy.",

author = "Tina Eliassi-Rad and Henry Farrell and David Garcia and Stephan Lewandowsky and Patricia Palacios and Don Ross and Didier Sornette and Karim Th{\'e}bault and Karoline Wiesner",

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AU - Eliassi-Rad, Tina

AU - Farrell, Henry

AU - Garcia, David

AU - Lewandowsky, Stephan

AU - Palacios, Patricia

AU - Ross, Don

AU - Sornette, Didier

AU - Thébault, Karim

AU - Wiesner, Karoline

N1 - Funding Information: This paper arose out of discussions during the workshop “How stable are democracies? Complex systems perspectives on modern society”, held in Bristol in 2018, funded through the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grant EP/E501214/1. Publisher Copyright: © 2020, The Author(s).

PY - 2020/12/1

Y1 - 2020/12/1

N2 - Political scientists have conventionally assumed that achieving democracy is a one-way ratchet. Only very recently has the question of “democratic backsliding” attracted any research attention. We argue that democratic instability is best understood with tools from complexity science. The explanatory power of complexity science arises from several features of complex systems. Their relevance in the context of democracy is discussed. Several policy recommendations are offered to help (re)stabilize current systems of representative democracy.

AB - Political scientists have conventionally assumed that achieving democracy is a one-way ratchet. Only very recently has the question of “democratic backsliding” attracted any research attention. We argue that democratic instability is best understood with tools from complexity science. The explanatory power of complexity science arises from several features of complex systems. Their relevance in the context of democracy is discussed. Several policy recommendations are offered to help (re)stabilize current systems of representative democracy.

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What science can do for democracy: a complexity science approach

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