What is democratic resilience?

Abstract

Resilience has become a key concept in many scientific disciplines, from engineering to psychology. With a specific time lag, it has also reached democracy research in political science. The term “resilience of democracy” or “democratic resilience” is increasingly used, but has not yet been fully developed into a concept for analytical purposes. This will be done here. The concept of resilience of democracy consists of four building blocks: arenas (institutions), actors, forms, and decisions (output). The institutional arenas act as interdependent opportunity structures for actors such as constitutional powers, parties, civic associations, and the builders or destroyers of the political community. Three possible forms of resilience can be distinguished in a political system: to withstand, to adjust, and to recover. Depending on unresolved problems, challenges, or attacks on a democratic system, these three forms are of particular relevance and impact. Moreover, the output of political decisions becomes increasingly important in political crises: resilience-oriented actors must fulfill three functions above all in policy-making: recognizing the future, solving problems, and making effective and fair decisions. The concept of democratic resilience allows single or small-n case studies to identify the weaknesses and strengths of democracy and track its trajectories.