On the Viability of Open Democracy

This chapter addresses some understandable worries about the feasibility and desirability of open democracy. It discusses the fact that the Icelandic constitutional process ultimately did not succeed in putting in place a democracy closer to the open democracy model this book advocates for; the issue of whether the size and heterogeneity of a country would get in the way; and the issue of the competence of non-elected representatives. The chapter then examines the risk of capture of open institutions by powerful bureaucracies and interest groups, as well as the possible illiberalism of more majoritarian institutions. It also considers the lack of accountability of a non- or less electoral democracy at the systems level and the possibly time-consuming nature of decision-making under open democracy. The chapter ends on a more general reflection about the transition from classically representative to open democracy.