What science can do for democracy – A complexity science approach

T Eliassi-rad; H Farrell; DA Garcia; Stephan Lewandowsky; Patricia Palacios; Don A Ross; Didier Sornette; Karim P Y Thebault; Karoline Wiesner

doi:10.1057/s41599-020-0518-0

What science can do for democracy – A complexity science approach

T Eliassi-rad, H Farrell, DA Garcia, Stephan Lewandowsky, Patricia Palacios, Don A Ross, Didier Sornette, Karim P Y Thebault, Karoline Wiesner^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

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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 recommen- dations are offered to help (re)stabilize current systems of representative democracy.

Original language	English
Journal	Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
Volume	7
Issue number	30
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-0518-0
Publication status	Published - 10 Jul 2020

Structured keywords

Centre for Science and Philosophy
Memory
TeDCog

Keywords

complex systems
democracy
economics
social system modelling
sociophysics
stability
statistical mechanics

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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 {\textquoteleft}democratic backsliding{\textquoteright} 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 recommen- dations are offered to help (re)stabilize current systems of representative democracy.",

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AU - Eliassi-rad, T

AU - Farrell, H

AU - Garcia, DA

AU - Lewandowsky, Stephan

AU - Palacios, Patricia

AU - Ross, Don A

AU - Sornette, Didier

AU - Thebault, Karim P Y

AU - Wiesner, Karoline

PY - 2020/7/10

Y1 - 2020/7/10

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 recommen- dations 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 recommen- dations are offered to help (re)stabilize current systems of representative democracy.

KW - complex systems

KW - democracy

KW - economics

KW - social system modelling

KW - sociophysics

KW - stability

KW - statistical mechanics

U2 - 10.1057/s41599-020-0518-0

DO - 10.1057/s41599-020-0518-0

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

VL - 7

JO - Humanities & Social Sciences Communications

JF - Humanities & Social Sciences Communications

SN - 2662-9992

IS - 30

ER -

What science can do for democracy – A complexity science approach

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Keywords

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