Polling data from the 2024 U.S. presidential election revealed that a significant majority of voters from both major political parties perceive American democracy as being under threat. This widespread concern highlights a bipartisan unease about the health and stability of the nation’s democratic institutions. Yet, beyond the immediate concerns about political divisions, there is a deeper, more persistent anxiety that democracy is being taken for granted, viewed as a permanent fixture rather than a fragile system that demands continuous engagement and vigilant defense.
To explore these concerns, we spoke with Laurent Dubois, a historian and the Karsh Institute’s academic director, and Jessica Kimpell Johnson, the Institute’s research director and a political theorist. Together, they examine the moral and practical justifications for democracy, discuss how it can address the challenges of our time, and make the case for why, despite its imperfections—and at times even contradictions between its ideals, values, and execution—democracy remains the most compelling form of government.
Q: Why have so many people in recent years expressed concern that democracy is being taken for granted?
Kimpell Johnson: I think behind that sentiment is a sense of an assumed resiliency on the part of democratic institutions and norms, but it turns out they are more fragile than expected. That concern also captures something deeper, namely that we have not reminded ourselves enough of the values of democracy.
John Stuart Mill warned about “dead dogmas” or sets of commitments that had been deeply meaningful, but over time become settled, thin, and superficial because people lose connection to the very reasons for those commitments. Democracy might be like this for us, assumed as a backdrop of American life, so we’ve lost a fluency and connection to its values. I often find that articulations of "why democracy" take their most compelling forms in the work of those fighting against authoritarianism or in struggles for democratic inclusion.
Dubois: Democracy dates back 2,500 years to ancient Greece, but democratic practices have existed worldwide, including among the Haudenosaunee in the Americas and through the Mande Charters in West Africa. Constitutional democracies like the U.S. are more recent, emerging a few centuries ago. Full democracy, with universal suffrage, only took shape in the 20th century through the inclusion of women, the end of racial exclusion (e.g., the 1965 Voting Rights Act), and independence movements that created new democracies in Africa and Asia. In the grand scope of history, we’re at the relative beginning of a true democratic experiment—it's still contested and fragile yet continually evolving.
In the grand scope of history, we’re at the relative beginning of a true democratic experiment—it’s still contested and fragile yet continually evolving.
Q: What are some of the key ideas or approaches to arguments for democracy?
Kimpell Johnson: In broad strokes, some argue that democracy is inherently valuable because it embodies certain moral commitments. Others argue it has instrumental value because it secures particular outcomes. Both rationales are compelling, but justifications for democracy often take one approach or the other.
Arguments for democracy also connect with different conceptions of freedom. Western liberalism emphasizes "non-interference," where freedom means the absence of constraints, suggesting democracy secures this better than other systems. Aristotle’s view ties freedom to participation in collective self-governance, while republicanism defines freedom as “non-domination,” meaning freedom from arbitrary rule. In one way or another, democracy has been seen as playing a role in realizing these different types of freedom.
In one way or another, democracy has been seen as playing a role in realizing different types of freedom.
Dubois: We should also look to what democracies have achieved and why. The United States flourished post–World War II through government investments in infrastructure, education, and research that helped establish it as a global leader. Its alliance with Western Europe strengthened democratic culture during the Cold War. Meanwhile, India gained its independence from Great Britain and, despite post-colonial challenges and religious conflict, built the world’s most populous democracy, successfully conducting the largest election in history last year. The outcome there, which represented an unpredicted expansion for the strength of the opposition, highlighted democracy’s ability to shift course based on changing popular will.
Q: In what ways do democracies tend to produce better quality-of-life outcomes for people?
Kimpell Johnson: Supporters of democracy argue that it is more likely to protect individual rights and foster social and economic well-being, making an empirical case that it is better than other forms of government. Alexis de Tocqueville, in Democracy in America, thought democracy’s very structure would better serve the interests of the many, leading to outcomes more in the common good than aristocracies or oligarchies, which tend to serve narrow interests.
Another idea, inspired by Condorcet’s Jury Theorem used in defenses of democracy, is that ordinary people can collectively make good decisions. Finally, some argue that democracy presents the opportunity, if outcomes are problematic, to change or reverse decisions; democratic political systems include accountability mechanisms, through elections, protest, and other ways of exerting pressure, which are much less available under other forms of government.
Democracy presents the opportunity, if outcomes are problematic, to change or reverse decisions; democratic political systems include accountability mechanisms, through elections, protest, and other ways of exerting pressure, which are much less available under other forms of government.
Dubois: Amartya Kumar Sen argues that democracies are particularly effective in addressing crises because they have political incentives that allow for course correction in times of disaster. He highlights the value of democracy in moments of economic upheaval and environmental catastrophes, noting that there has never been a famine in a democracy. But a key challenge today is whether democratic systems, which often operate on a national scale, can address global issues like the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s important to look at the variety of cases across the world today, where democracy is under threat in some places and nourished in others. One of the most important stories in 2024 was what happened in Senegal, where an attempt to flout long-standing constitutional norms and gain a third term was successfully defeated by a powerful combination of protest, legal action, and mobilization across different sectors in the country, something Achille Mbembe and Felwine Sarr discussed with us last spring. There’s much to learn from that success story.
Q: Why should people advocate for democracy even when public policy does not align with their concerns or interests?
Kimpell Johnson: We could think about what is intrinsically valuable about democracy. It is a political system grounded in a commitment to the equal moral worth of individuals. Democracy is nowhere near perfect, but democratic institutions and procedures themselves are an attempt to make real the claim that all should have a voice in the making of the laws to which they are subject. Even if we don’t agree with the outcomes, our agency and equality has been captured and respected in the process. It has been thought that in diverse societies, there can be agreement on democratic procedures. Some, however, have suggested this makes democracy thin and lacking a moral nature. But the procedures of democracy themselves embody deep value commitments, and the moral basis for equality under the law, for equal votes, for procedural fairness, is a respect for the equal dignity of individuals.
Dubois: Building on that, I’d say democracy is about trusting ordinary human beings to determine how their society should be structured and governed. It represents a belief in the power of collective intelligence. Elections are just a part of this, but they play a key role by enabling shifts in power, preventing concentration in the hands of a few, and ensuring diverse perspectives. Democracy is inherently unstable, and while that has drawbacks, it’s ultimately the secret to how it preserves human autonomy and freedom. Historically, democratic societies have been sources of dynamism, fostering artistic, intellectual, economic, and technological advancements. They have protected and nourished freedom of speech and thought. At its best, the participatory nature of democracy nurtures human imagination and innovation.
Democracy is about trusting ordinary human beings to determine how their society should be structured and governed.
Q: If you had to make the case for democracy in just one sentence, what would it be?
Dubois: We have a responsibility to all our ancestors who have struggled to create systems that allow us today to have a say in how our worlds are structured, and we have an even greater responsibility to our descendants to make sure that they have the freedom and possibility to shape the world as they wish.
Kimpell Johnson: Policy outcomes often don’t align with what we want or hope for, and wide gaps between democratic values and practice frequently exist, but as citizens, our role is to work together to bridge those gaps as best we can—and if you believe in the equal moral worth of individuals and the values of freedom, fairness, and accountability, keep choosing democracy over its alternatives.