Program in Democratic Governance and Societal Welfare

Government is a means to pursue, through collective action, a set of ends that are essential to societal welfare.  To some people government is seen as a “necessary evil.”  It prevents anarchy by providing the order essential to fruitful human intercourse.  Government is objectionable because it constrains liberty, which is a vital wellspring of happiness.  Basic human freedoms and liberties are essential in order for individuals to maximize their talents and to realize their desires, which form the bedrock of societal welfare.

Most modern political thinkers assert that democracy is the least objectionable form of government because it provides for order while placing the fewest constraints on liberty.  It is also argued that democracy provides the most flexible means for resolving the tension between order and liberty, which is essential to meeting challenges that vary across time.  These assertions underlie the conventional wisdom about democracy’s superiority in enhancing societal welfare. They also provide the basis for domestic and international efforts to promote democracy

Because of the importance of these assertions about democracy’s advantages in promoting societal welfare, many scholars have sought to determine whether they are empirically supportable.  Research generally supports conventional wisdom about democracy.  However, many observers believe that democracy is insufficient, by itself, to generate marked improvements in societal welfare.

Significant disparities in the performance of democracies across the globe have given rise to questions about the role of other institutions and conventions in complementing the performance of democratic governments. The institutions and conventions that are considered adjuncts to democracy are the rule of law, free market economies, independent judiciaries and monetary institutions, formal guarantees of fundamental freedoms and liberties, and a free and active press.  These devices are asserted to be essential in such areas as protecting human and property rights, addressing market failures, insuring equality of opportunity, and eliminating poverty.

Despite the plausibility of the assertions, they rest more on beliefs rather than on firm empirical foundations.  We have little detailed knowledge about the relative importance of different institutions or the facets of welfare they affect.  Also, we know little about how these largely Western inventions mesh with diverse cultures and settings throughout the world.  Thus, much remains to be learned about how democracy can best be structured and complemented to optimize its impact on human welfare.  These knowledge voids must be filled if democracies are to realize their potential in providing for societal welfare in the new millennium.

Filling these knowledge voids will require a major and sustained research effort.  A large amount of data on governmental structure and societal welfare will have to be carefully assembled, and periodically updated, for a large number of countries over time.  These data will be required to separate the independent effects of human inventions such as the rule of law and free market economies from such confounding factors as natural resources, political history, and geopolitical setting.  Other analyses will be required to generate insights about the best way to achieve optimal governmental structures for different societies.

These research challenges are imposing.  But the questions they address are too important to be left to unending ideological debates.  Addressing these questions requires a knowledge base that can only be attained through an on-going program of basic research and reasoned dialogue.  Achieving this knowledge base is within the reach of modern social science research.  But assembling it will require the type of sustained effort that can best be achieved within a setting such as the Cline Center for Democracy. 

Consequently, the objectives of the Program in Democratic Governance and Societal Welfare are twofold.  The first is to conduct a program of research that refines our understanding of (1) the relative benefits of democracy for societal welfare, (2) how democracies can best be structured and supplemented to enhance human well-being, and (3) how best to achieve optimal institutional arrangements in diverse democratic societies. 

The second is to organize an on-going dialogue among researchers, practitioners and interested citizens on questions pertaining to democracy and societal welfare.  This dialogue is essential to both disseminating the program’s findings and conclusions and to updating its research agenda.