Four Crises of American Democracy: Representation, Mastery, Discipline, Anticipation

by Alasdair Roberts

In the last decade, observers of Western governments have become increasingly concerned about an apparent crisis of democracy. They argue that endemic corruption, inadequate services, and increasing voter disaffection have produced a dire a global resurgence of authoritarianism. The political climate surrounding the 2016 presidential election in the United States has only reinforced the perception of democratic crisis.

In Four Crises of American Democracy, Alasdair Roberts locates the U.S.'s recent bout of democratic malaise in a larger context, arguing that it is the latest in a series of very different crises that have plagued America throughout the entire post-Civil War era. He focuses on four crises, describing the features of each and outlining solutions the government adopted in response. The first crisis-the "crisis of representation"-occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and was dominated by fears of plutocracy and debates about the rights of African Americans, women, and immigrants. The "crisis of mastery" spanned the years 1917-1948, and focused on building administrative capabilities so that government could better manage both an increasingly complex economy and volatile international system. The "crisis of discipline," beginning in the 1970s, was triggered by the perception that voters and special interests were overloading governments with unreasonable demands,
and the response was to limit government's reach. The current crisis, what Roberts calls the "crisis of anticipation," is ongoing. Roberts pronounces it a future-oriented crisis, preoccupied with the capacity of democratic systems to deal with long-term problems such the rise of China and climate change.

Roberts suggests that democratic solutions to this present crisis will win out over more authoritarian ones, as occurred in previous crises. Features like societal openness and pragmatism give the democratic model a distinct advantage. A powerful account of how successive crises have shaped American democracy, this is essential reading for anyone interested in the forces driving the current democratic malaise both in the U.S. and around the world.

280 pages, Hardcover

Published January 10, 2017

About the author

Alasdair Roberts is a professor of political science and public policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Reviews

[Brooke Salaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hopeful I felt overview of American democracy and the different crises we've survived. My takeaway boils down to we can bemoan the bad roads we've gone down by being dictated to by the tyranny of the majority and the fears I've felt about the mediocrity of a lot of what passes for expert opinion, the system is most often self correcting. We go down some ridiculous path that people thought at the time was a good idea and public opinion does change when we see the ramifications. I hope this happens to us again and that the damage is not irreparable. We've been here to some degree before. Although global warming appears to me a place that might present a case where turning the ship around will not occur quickly enough. Interesting historical look at our political system. He makes a very valid point I thought that we are generally only looking at 10-20 years in the past and seeing that as a trend that we can view as determinative of our future when that is far too short a timeframe to accurately assess projections of how much change is truly possible.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Representation - lack of public control
mastery - gov can't deal with problems identified by the public
discipline - excessive or unreasonable demands public makes on gov
anticipation - failure of democracies to handle long term problems

The author covers these four topics by looking at four periods in American history to elucidate each of the four problems. Well written book, I think the author would be a most enjoyable lecturer.