Democracy at the Crossroads: An Interview with David Stasavage on Polarization

While researching and writing two recent articles (1, 2) on political polarization, I encountered David Stasavage’s book The Decline and Rise of Democracy: A Global History from Antiquity to Today (it’s discussed in this article). Stasavage is an American political scientist known for his work on democracy and political economy. He is the Carroll and Milton Petrie Professor at New York University’s Department of Politics and an affiliated professor in NYU’s School of Law.

Decline and Rise views democracy from a long historical perspective, rather than just focusing (as so many writers still do) on experiments by the ancient Athenians and the American “founding fathers.” The book’s wide historical scope and data-driven clarity bring to mind the research of Peter Turchin and Jack Goldstone on inequality, elites, and civilizational cycles. I was interested to note that Stasavage credits Goldstone in his acknowledgments. I reached out to Stasavage for a short interview.

RH: David, thanks for agreeing to answer a few questions. And thanks for your excellent book. I hope this interview leads some of our readers to seek it out.

There’s evidence (in poll-based data collected by the Edelman Trust Barometer) that democracies are becoming generally more polarized. Reasons commonly cited include increasing economic inequality and new communication technologies, notably social media. Do you have any insights, based on your research on democracy, on why polarization is increasing, and how to reduce it? Is it just up to individuals and communities, or are there things that national leaders can do?