Research

The American Democracy Collaborative  has produced various books, articles, edited volumes, and special issues of journals. See links below for more information.

Both political elites and everyday citizens are divided into rival and mutually antagonistic partisan camps, with each camp questioning the political legitimacy and democratic commitments of the other side. Does this polarization pose threats to democracy itself? What can make some democratic institutions resilient in the face of such challenges? Democratic Resilience brings together a distinguished group of specialists to examine how polarization affects the performance of institutional checks and balances as well as the political behavior of voters, civil society actors, and political elites. The volume bridges the conventional divide between institutional and behavioral approaches to the study of American politics and incorporates historical and comparative insights to explain the nature of contemporary challenges to democracy. It also breaks new ground to identify the institutional and societal sources of democratic resilience.

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Four Threats: The Recurring Crises of American Democracy by Suzanne Mettler and Robert C. Lieberman

Is the United States in danger that democracy will suffer serious deterioration or “backsliding”? We might assume that it is secure, given the nation’s enduring Constitution – the oldest functioning in the world – and the nation’s progress in becoming more inclusive over time. Yet history reveals that American democracy has been far more fragile than we might think: it has undergone repeated crises, from the earliest days of the republic to the present. Read more.

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