Polycentric democracy and dynamic political stability

PANIAGUA PRIETO, PABLO IGNACIO; Kaveh Pourvand

doi:10.1177/14748851251378935

Polycentric democracy and dynamic political stability

Journal

European Journal of Political Theory

ISSN

1474-8851

Date Issued

2025-09-30

Author(s)

PANIAGUA PRIETO, PABLO IGNACIO

Faro

Kaveh Pourvand

Type

journal-article

DOI

10.1177/14748851251378935

URL

https://hdl.handle.net/123456789/11604

Abstract

A perennial question of political thought is how to stabilize a just regime in the face of disagreement. The importance of this question has been heightened with the Weberian state that monopolizes the power of coercion and anchors society under a single governance structure. This political form has given us both liberal democracy and totalitarianism. The stakes could not be higher in ensuring stability without dismantling pluralism. This paper provides a novel solution to the stability problem by focusing on dynamic stability reached through polycentric democracy. Plural and overlapping centers of governance characterize such democracy. This renders a polycentric system more resilient to changing views than a monocentric one and superior on political risk-management grounds by diffusing decision-making risks. A polycentric system also fosters antifragility in society by avoiding seeking a single and fixed point equilibrium, thereby eluding the pitfalls currently afflicting liberal democracy.