Democracy’s Second Act: Why Politics Needs the Public

Democracy isn’t broken – it’s stuck. Around the world, people are growing angry and polarized – not because they’ve stopped caring, but because democracy has stopped evolving. The result isn’t apathy,  it is a rising sense of political futility.

In Democracy’s Second Act, Peter MacLeod and Richard Johnson argue that the first act of democracy – anchored in voting rights and representative government – achieved extraordinary gains. Free elections, near-universal suffrage, and the peaceful transfer of power reshaped societies and expanded human freedom. But these achievements represent the promise of democracy, not its completion.

Join MacLeod as he offers a hopeful, clear-eyed vision for what comes next.