Reconceptualizing Democracy: Harnessing Social Complexity at the State-Society Interface

Abstract

Existing governance classifications suffer from underdeveloped conceptual definitions of democracy, dominated traditionally by minimalism and, more recently, liberal millenarianism, which has inspired operationalizations characterized by overspecification and normativism. Using complexity theory, the author offers an alternative conceptualization of democracy, as one among several strategies for managing social complexity. Democracy involves harnessing, rather than suppressing or controlling, the social complexity endemic to human society. This conceptualization is considered historically, offering an evolutionary explanation for democracy’s recent emergence and diffusion. The thesis operationalizes this conceptual definition by proposing, testing, and evaluating the Harnessing Social Complexity Index, a unique quantitative measure of democracy.