The paper offers a brief critical appraisal of the diagnoses of social acceleration’s impact on democracy. It examines recommendations designed to alleviate the negative part of that impact, especially those associated with the dominant current of deliberative democracy. This argument offers a theoretically-informed account of key dilemmas and options in democratic institutional design, critically appraising the role that time and speed play – and can play – in normative and empirical work on the design of deliberative and other democratic institutions. Finally, the paper outlines practical responses: new ways of designing and practicing democracy with reformed institutions and policy sequences.
