Democratic Institutions and Long-Term Decision-Making: The Design Challenge

Abstract

How well are democratic institutions designed to deal with long-term challenges that will likely have their most significant impacts on yet to exist generations? There is well-worn series of arguments that suggest that democratic institutions suffer from a range of myopias, privileging the short-term interests of existing citizens over future generations. On this basis, non-democratic solutions to challenges such as climate change are given particular credence. This panel will explore the way that innovations to democratic systems can enable longer-term considerations, focusing both on ways in which already-existing institutions are enabling such longer-term orientations and designs that might supplement or replace existing democratic architecture.

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