When Democracy Is on the Ballot

Michael Ignatieff*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

Abstract (may include machine translation)

Democratic self-rule is an unending argument about what democracy is. In normal times, democracy reproduces its legitimacy by its routine operation. In times of political crisis, however, the defining issue of an election can become the commitment of adversaries to the rules of the democratic game. At such times, polarization can become lethal to the very system that both sides say they are committed to maintaining. All democracies could use serious institutional reform, but we will not begin unless we abandon the illusion that democracy's problems would be solved if we could just defeat authoritarian populists at the ballot box. It is our institutions, not just the players, that need changing.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)17-23
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Democracy
Volume35
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jul 2024

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