ABSTRACT
In this chapter, two supra-individual problems will be elaborated to illustrate the contemporary state of democratic politics and how urgent macro-societal problems are countered: one, the Covid pandemic is subject in Section 2: a worldwide threat to all, crying out for effective state action. Second, the extant levels of socioeconomic misery and inequalities, which is an individual concern for many citizens, the “have-nots” in particular are analysed in Section 3. These case studies demonstrate the cross-national variation in policy formation and related performance. and the conclusion is that better levels of democraticness payoff. Section 3 shows that the pursuit of “Happiness” promoting people’s well-being can be considered as a “democratic advantage” reducing the Micro-Macro paradox. The chapter concludes that effective Statism and established democraticness are conditional for consolidating a democratic polity, achieving “Social Justice” by providing Welfare, Security and Prosperity.
