The Great Experiment - Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure

Some democracies are highly homogeneous. Others have long maintained a brutal racial or religious hierarchy, with some groups dominating and exploiting others. Never in history has a democracy succeeded in being both diverse and equal, treating members of many different ethnic or religious groups fairly. And yet achieving that goal is now central to the democratic project in countries around the world. It is, Yascha Mounk argues, the greatest experiment of our time.

Thomas Brailey

I am a PhD researcher in Politics at Nuffield College at the University of Oxford. I study the provision of security by state and non-state actors in Sub-Saharan Africa. My dissertation quantitatively assesses why different non-state security providers emerge and change over time, and how this impacts civilians' wellbeing. My research interests broadly include the political economy of development, political violence, and research transparency and reproducibility.

Haitong Du

I am a DPhil student in International Relations at Balliol College, University of Oxford. I hold an MPhil in International Relations from Pembroke College, Oxford, and a BA in International Relations (Phi Beta Kappa) from Tufts University, where I also minored in French language, history, and culture.

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