The Size Problem in Democracy: Why Scale Matters for Institutional Design
Why governing thirty thousand differs fundamentally from governing three hundred million—and what institutional design can do about it.
Why Most Decentralization Reforms Disappoint: The Missing Conditions for Success
Decentralization fails not because the idea is wrong, but because reformers transfer authority without the institutions that make local governance work.
Independent Agencies and Democratic Accountability: Squaring the Circle
How democracies can delegate authority to expert agencies while maintaining legitimate control through sophisticated institutional design
Democratic Erosion by Design: How Autocrats Exploit Institutional Ambiguities
How constitutional silences, norm dependencies, and capture sequences create the blueprint for democratic decay
Why Deliberative Minipublics Fail—And How to Make Them Succeed
The gap between citizens' assembly theory and practice reveals crucial design failures—and evidence-based solutions.
Designing Direct Democracy That Doesn't Destroy Representative Government
Why institutional architecture determines whether referenda strengthen or undermine democratic governance
Federalism as Democratic Technology: When Vertical Power Division Enhances Self-Governance
How vertical power division, properly designed, can amplify citizen voice and create meaningful self-governance opportunities unavailable in unitary systems.
Sequencing Democratic Reforms: Why Order Matters More Than Content
Why the sequence of democratic reforms determines their success more than their design, and how to navigate institutional change strategically.
The Architecture of Legitimate Judicial Review: Constraining Judges Without Neutering Courts
Designing judicial review systems that protect rights while preserving democratic legitimacy through weak-form review, appointment reform, and institutional dialogue.
The Problem of Democratic Boundaries: Who Gets to Decide Who Decides?
Examining democracy's deepest paradox: the people who vote cannot democratically decide who counts as the people.
Designing Bicameralism That Actually Works: Beyond Second Chamber Gridlock
How strategic differentiation, conflict mechanisms, and power asymmetries transform second chambers from obstruction engines into governance assets.
The Constitutional Dilemma of Entrenchment: When Should Majorities Bind the Future?
How constitutional designers balance protecting fundamental commitments against respecting future generations' democratic authority to govern themselves
Why Sortition Outperforms Elections for Certain Democratic Functions
Ancient lottery methods offer modern democracies powerful tools for representation and deliberation that elections systematically fail to provide.
The Paradox of Mandatory Voting: Democratic Enhancement or Democratic Betrayal?
Beyond the compulsion debate: How implementation choices determine whether mandatory voting serves or subverts democratic self-governance.