Political Fragmentation and the Decline of Effective Government
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Description
What is the most fundamental challenge facing democracies today? One major concern is democratic backsliding, regression, or the rise of “illiberal democracies.” Another concern, closely related, is the rise of “populism,” at least in certain forms, such as those that are fundamentally anti-pluralist and view the “people” as a “moral, homogenous entity whose will cannot err,” or, in less virulent form, those that express impatience with institutional structures and norms—such as judicial review, independent institutions, or separation of powers—that stand in the way of direct, unmediated expression of the “popular will.” Good reasons exist for these concerns across many democracies today. But, in my view, the deepest and perhaps most enduring challenge to democratic governments across the West that has emerged in recent years is what I call “political fragmentation.” Put briefly, political fragmentation is the dispersion of political power into so many different hands and power centers that it becomes extremely difficult to marshal enough political power and authority for governments to function effectively. To take the United States as one example, there is little question that recent decades have seen a dramatic decline in the effectiveness of government, whether that is measured in the number of important bills Congress is able to enact, the proportion of all issues people identity as most important that Congress manages to address, or the number of enacted bills that update old policies enacted many decades earlier. Social scientists now write books with titles like Can America Govern Itself? The inability of democratic governments to deliver on the issues their populations care most about poses enormous dangers. At a minimum, it can lead to alienation, resignation, distrust, and withdrawal among many citizens. Even worse, it can spawn demands for authoritarian leaders who promise to cut through the dysfunction of the political process. And, at an even greater extreme, it can lead people to question the efficacy of democracy itself and become open to antidemocratic systems of government. The rise of a more prosperous China, and its model of one-party, authoritarian capitalism, increases the risk that some citizens in democratic states might become tempted to look to nondemocratic systems in search of effective governance. Analysis of modern democracies has not begun to recognize the emergence of political fragmentation as a major challenge, or to grasp the range of implications it has for the possible future of democratic processes, institutions, and governance. Political fragmentation is related to polarization, populism, and reversion to authoritarianism. But the most profound question it poses to democracies—both for those that seem precarious and those that currently seem stable—is whether the ability to sustain legitimate democratic authority is coming into question. In Section 18.2, I define political fragmentation more fully and describe its various manifestations, including the different forms that fragmentation takes today in proportional-representation (PR) political systems and in first-past-the-post (FPTP) ones. Section 18.3 then explores the causes of political fragmentation, with an eye to whether the fragmentation we are currently experiencing across democracies reflects temporary, contingent forces or more enduring ones. In particular, I focus on the communications revolution, which I argue is a central driver of political fragmentation. This section argues that the challenge the communications revolution poses to democracy goes beyond concerns with intentional manipulation, fake news, “hate speech,” or anonymous speech funded through “dark” (undisclosed) money. Even apart from those issues, the communications revolution enhances the ability to undermine the authority of many institutions, both public and private. In the political sphere, this revolution propels political fragmentation and the under- mining of sustainable political authority. Democratic governments must be able to function effectively. Yet the rise of political fragmentation makes this increasingly difficult – and no simple fixes for this emerging challenge loom on the horizon. Are we becoming destined to experience temporarily successful forces of disruption, which are then soon undermined in turn by other new disruptive forces, in an endless cycle that makes effective governance far more difficult to sustain?
Source Publication
Constitutionalism and a Right to Effective Government?
Source Editors/Authors
Vicki C. Jackson, Yasmin Dawood
Publication Date
2022
Recommended Citation
Pildes, Richard H., "Political Fragmentation and the Decline of Effective Government" (2022). Faculty Chapters. 1946.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/1946
