ABSTRACT
This concluding chapter synthesises the book’s findings and outlines a realistic agenda for defending democracy. Rejecting both complacency and alarmism, it argues that democracy’s greatest threat lies not in inevitable decline, but in a selective commitment to democratic rules. External pressure from great autocratic powers, internal polarisation and political populism, and exaggerated expectations all strain democratic systems. The chapter also emphasises the danger of ‘democrats by convenience’, who support democracy only when it produces outcomes that align with their own policy preferences. Democratic conflict, controversy, and slow decision-making are not signs of failure, but core features of the system. The chapter closes by reaffirming democracy’s central virtue: its capacity to manage deep disagreement peacefully and correct its own mistakes over time. Defending democracy, it is argued, requires clarity, restraint, and sustained institutional loyalty—not myths or exaggerated claims of decline.
