The Systemic Deficiencies of Democracy

When a part of our body fails to function properly, another part compensates by performing the missing function. The system continues to operate, although not as efficiently as when it is healthy. This process of adaptation is achieved through a bypass mechanism.

I propose that the democratic system today is similarly sick. Supposedly, in a democracy, people elect leaders who will solve problems—so there should be no need to burn tires and break windows. Since the formal democratic system fails  to act well, it causes the proliferation of bypass, social and political movements, that demand solutions to their grievances.

Consider this wide range of movements:

• Black Lives Matter (BLM) – protests police violence and systemic racism.
• NAACP – one of the oldest civil rights organizations in the U.S.
• The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) – broader coalition including BLM and others...
• Black Panther Party – radical response to police brutality and racial injustice.
• Stop Asian Hate – grassroots response to anti-Asian violence.
• #MeToo Movement – calls out sexual harassment and assault.
• National Organization for Women (NOW) – feminist advocacy since the 1960s.
• Occupy Wall Street – “We are the 99%” against wealth inequality.
• Fight for $15 – minimum wage campaign.
• Extinction Rebellion – climate action through civil disobedience.
• Sunrise Movement – youth-led advocacy for the Green New Deal.
• Fridays for Future – youth climate strikes inspired by Greta Thunberg.
• Standing Rock / NoDAPL – Indigenous-led pipeline resistance.
• Moms Demand Action – grassroots movement for gun safety.
• Vietnam War protests, Iraq War protests, Code Pink – women-led anti-war organization.

The reason, I suggest, why the democratic system is not functioning optimally is that there is a structural flaw.

A democracy consists of three coequal branches:

• Executive – performs the (P) role: producing results.
• Judiciary – performs the (A) role: administering order and justice.
• Legislature – performs the (E) role: enabling change by passing laws.

But where is the (I) function — the integrative force that maintains unity, harmony, and long-term values?

When organic integration (I) is missing, the system reverts to mechanistic integration—the (A) role—seeking short-term stability through rules and enforcement, not consensus or coherence.

As the rate of change increases, problems proliferate, calling for a solution. The democratic system, however, is inefficient. It is based on legitimate diversity of ideologies and agendas, and there is no (I) function to deal with it. The result is that in a democracy, it takes a long time to come to solutions that work.

People revolt. Bypass systems emerge. Governments respond to the need for prompt solutions by bypassing Congress with executive orders. The result is increasing autocratic leadership. This is not limited to one country—it is a global democratic decay. PA-ing replaces the missing (I) function. Process and order dominate at the expense of organic integration.

The (I) function should have been provided by the office of the presidency. But in most countries, the president is a politician representing a political preference and is thus incapable of integrating.  Or, like in the United States, the president is the head of the (P) function—the executive branch—and that is the antithesis of (I).

Another solution is to decentralize as much as possible government organs making integration less complicated. The trend however  is in the opposite direction. Control breeds control. The more an organization wants to control processes the more flaws it finds that call for more control.

The Consequences

Democracy remains on paper and survives—but in a different form. The marches, protests, and movements are a desperate attempt to reclaim voice and agency that the formal system is failing to hear.

Is this development desired or dysfunctional?

That depends on whether these movements result in reintegration—or in deeper fragmentation.