Democracy in the US, and across the world, faces complex challenges. Economic, social and racial divisions are driving rapid polarization. Gaps are widening between people and power. Short-term domestic demands crowd out long-term vision and collaboration on shared risks like climate. How fit for purpose are our established democracies and founding principles?
With the United States presidential election rapidly approaching, 2020 is a critical juncture to launch a comparative analysis of democratic principles, practice, and innovation. Starting in October, Salzburg Global’s American Studies Program will challenge Fellows to simulate an undertaking accomplished only 33 times: amending the US Constitution. This will leverage experiential learning to examine the future implications of this founding document (for both the United States and global democracy writ large), shape the future agenda, and research outputs for this multi-year series.
By one measure, global democracy is at or near a modern-day high. Yet concern has been growing for years about the future of democracy . Even though a strong majority supports democratic ideals, many now question democracy’s resilience and how it can reconnect with citizens who are disillusioned or feel excluded. Across the world, political and social sciences point to the end of traditional binaries like liberal/conservative and left/right. Economics and culture are emerging as the new axes for analysis and prediction, with questions of race, class, and ethnicities transforming attitudes to – and participation in – political parties and leadership.
Conventional wisdom and value-based assumptions indicate what democracy is or should be: rule of law, accountability, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, representation, minority rights. Yet survey data increasingly highlights a deep disconnect between expert opinion and what “ordinary people” actually think and want. A coordinated, interdisciplinary response is required – with culture (arts, humanities, academia, social media) at the epicenter – to determine the path forward.
Fortunately, political and cultural theater is at the fore. Leaders, institutions, and key stakeholders are responding to seismic societal change, and new networks of power, with their best efforts at modern democratic performance. Heads of State litigate policy via Twitter. Parliamentary proceedings are livestreamed. International protests have been broadcasted and serve as proxies for approval polling.
Specific controversies mark out the United States, whose president recently signed an executive order banning the use of TikTok – a social network for sharing user videos – for fear of national security concerns. This issue has sharply divided cultural influencers, businesspeople, and legal experts and sits at the intersection of legal rights and due process, capital, and international relations.
The new three-year series What Future for Democracy? Polarization, Culture, and Resilience in America and the World launched in October 2020 with a five-day role-play workshop that combined in-person and online participation. It brought together different disciplinary and national viewpoints on democratic purpose, culture, and practice – for today’s world and into the future. Participants focused on selected articles of the US Constitution as a structured framework to stimulate analysis and collaboration on current problems and recommendations for American and other democracies around the globe.
Salzburg Global is launching a major three-year collaboration - What Future for Democracy? Polarization, Culture, and Resilience in America and the World - to help shape a future vision for American Studies in a radically changing world, with five specific goals:
With the United States still representing the promise of democracy for many people around the globe, key questions for Program 1 in new three-year series on What Future for Democracy? Polarization, Culture, and Resilience in America and the World will include:
Program 2 will focus on democratic infrastructure and accountability. Domestically and internationally, The US’ constitutional democracy is coming under the spotlight as issues and interpretations are revisited, power is centralized, and ever-greater sums are spent during elections. Key questions may include:
Program 3 will build on preceding programs and focus on individuals as the cornerstone of vibrant democracy at local to national level. Key questions may include: