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2.3   What is an Ailing Democracy?                                          (Top)

From the description of healthy democratic systems, it can be inferred that ailing democracies are characterized by a narrowed issue domain and an imbalance of powers, manifest in excessive powers in one or the more of the executive, legislature, judiciary, special interests, or the people.  Like the medical metaphor, a sick democracy is one in which some disease process underlies the disabling of balancing functions when the natural immune system is too weak to prevent it.  The greater the imbalance of political influence among power centers, the narrower the definition of issue boundaries, the greater the concentration of power, and the greater the social, political, and economic problems.  For these reasons, democracy can be characterized as a balancing act.  In fact, it might be aptly called a "high-wire balancing act" because of the high stakes should the system remain out balance for any length of time.  Depending on how advanced the failing condition is, there generally will be signs of the abuse of power such as entrenchment, illegitimacy, and "improper" actions, usually at the expense of the people.  

This power balance perspective with a focus on admissible debate enables the comparison of democratic systems to non-democratic systems and democracies from country to country, but even more importantly it enables the evaluation of our own democratic system over time.  It allows us to define a crisis and to pinpoint exactly where the problem is and what might solve it.

Obviously, every time a democratic system stalls it does not necessarily slip into dictatorship.  Indeed, the American political system was born at risk and has been at risk a number of times in its short life of just over two centuries.  Nevertheless, in recent years, American democracy is displaying all of the symptoms of a democracy in trouble, including the truncation of admissible debate, excessive power of the Presidency, restrictions on civil liberties, corruption in high places, troubled domestic and foreign programs, and widespread public discontent.

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Materials

References

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