Democracy's Challenges - by Bob Bauer & Richard Pildes & Rosa Po & Samuel Issacharoff (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Democracy's Challenges is the culmination of the NYU Law Democracy Project's "100 Ideas in 100 Days series." This anthology brings together an unparalleled range of scholars, political strategists, policymakers, and global thinkers on the urgent question of what's next for democracy?

Crossing ideological, political, and geographical boundaries, Democracy's Challenges includes over 100 brief, deeply informed, and often visionary essays written by over 100 contributors, ranging from prominent scholars to influential political and public figures like Anita Dunn, Robert George, Samuel Moyn, Larry Diamond, Randall Kennedy, Jake Sullivan, and Mark Cuban.

Together, the same essays address the central topics of American governance and politics, but provide an international perspective with contributions from scholars and other experts on issues confronting democracies around the globe. The authors of these essays offer original perspectives on a host of issues that are often mired In conventional wisdom or polarized political conflict, including the rise of executive power, the failures of legislatures, and the controversies over the role of courts; the effects of wealth inequality and revolutionary technologies; the role of experts; the function and health of political parties and civil society; civic education and participation; and the sources of popular distrust of democratic institutions. Democracy's Challenges will provoke thought and inspire a fresh debate about the potential or the limits of reform.

About the Author

Bob Bauer (Editor)
Bob Bauer is a founding Faculty Director of the Democracy Project, Professor of Practice, and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at NYU School of Law. He is a leading expert on executive power and author of The Unraveling: Reflections on Politics without Ethics and Democracy in Crisis, co-author of After Trump: Reconstructing the Presidency, and co-founder of a Substack devoted to executive power issues, Executive Functions. Bauer served as White House Counsel from 2009 to 2011.

Richard Pildes (Editor)
Richard Pildes is a founding Faculty Director of the Democracy Project and Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of Law. He is the nation's most cited scholar on election law, a leading expert on American government and democratic governance worldwide,

Samuel Issacharoff (Editor)
Samuel Issacharoff is a founding Faculty Director of the Democracy Project and Reiss Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of Law. He is a leading expert on democracies and constitutions worldwide and author of Fragile Democracies: Contested Power in the Era of Constitutional Courts and Democracy Unmoored: Populism and the Corruption of Popular Sovereignty.