I’ve been away on vacation and haven’t posted on the intriguing essays we’ve published in the last two weeks at NYU’s Democracy Project. I’ll catch up on that in a series of posts.
Here are brief excerpts from the first three days last week. Michael Ramsey is the Warren Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law; Rosalind Dixon is a Professor of Law, at the University of New South Wales, Faculty of Law and David Landau is Tobias Simon Eminent Scholar Chair and Associate Dean for International Programs at Florida State University College of Law; Michaela Hailbronner is a Professor of German and International Public Law and Comparative Law at the University of Münster.
Michael D. Ramsey: Preserve Democracy by Lowering the Stakes
“Today there is no single issue that, like slavery, is so encompassing as to make losing unacceptable. But increasingly each side in our political struggle is convincing itself that it cannot afford to lose. In part, this may be a function of inflamed rhetoric, amplified by social media, casting the other side as communists, fascists, Nazis, or haters of America. But behind the vulgar, incendiary discourse of our political class, it may also be that the stakes in national politics are indeed becoming too high. There is simply too much power to be won and lost in our national elections.”
Rosalind Dixon and David Landau: The Democratic Minimum Core
“For those committed to democracy, it is important to distinguish between disagreements with liberal ideas, and disagreements with the idea of democracy itself. Opposing the right to abortion, for example, need not mean opposing democratic constitutional ideas. And a preference for nationalist economic and immigration policies need not equate to a preference for arbitrary, undemocratic forms of government – or depriving non-citizens of their rights without due process. One might eventually lead to the other, as a matter of politics. But as a matter of logic, there is good reason to insist on the distinction: liberal rights and freedoms can often wax and wane, whereas the erosion of democracy will often be harder to reverse.”
Michaela Hailbronner: Making Democracy More (Social) Democratic “The current crisis offers the chance of rethinking our political systems in a more fundamental way: How can we not just preserve, but improve our democracies? This is necessary not because the wrong people win, but because our democratic systems are too skewed by things that should not play a role in electoral success. First among these are wealth and status. Fixing this is our primary challenge – and it is here that the current crisis opens up room not just to tinker on the margins, but to build better societies. Addressing this should have two components. The first involves improving access and voice in politics. The second involves breaking up concentrations of corporate power.”
