Future Publics

Abstract

Abstract This book challenges the idea that democratic processes are functionally short-sighted. Many observers assume that long-term issues will be ignored or discounted in democratic systems because of the myopic preferences of voters, the political dynamics of short electoral cycles, the exclusion (or absence) of future others in decision-making processes, and the reality that democratic processes are often captured by powerful actors with dominant short-term interests. The evidence is clear: we have poorly managed many long-term issues, including climate change, nuclear waste disposal, plastics pollution, natural disaster preparedness, infrastructure maintenance, and budget deficits. This idea—which Michael K. MacKenzie calls the “democratic myopia thesis”—is a sort of conventional wisdom: It is one of those things that scholars and pundits take for granted as a truth about democracy without subjecting it to adequate critical scrutiny. This book challenges this conventional wisdom and articulates a deliberative, democratic theory of future-regarding collective action. It is argued that each part of the democratic myopia problem can be addressed through democratic—rather than authoritarian—means. At a more fundamental level, the book argues that if democratic practices are world-making activities that empower us to make our shared worlds together, they should also be understood as future-making activities. Despite the short-term dynamics associated with electoral democracy, MacKenzie argues that inclusive and deliberative democratic processes are the only means we have for making our shared futures together in collectively intentional, mutually accommodating ways.