This blog post examines why constitutional mechanisms alone are insufficient for American democracy and analyzes how informal norms like mutual tolerance and institutional self-restraint have sustained the political order.
The U.S. Constitution establishes a presidential system based on the principle of checks and balances among branches of government. This design aims to prevent any single politician or group from monopolizing or abusing power, thereby safeguarding democracy. This institutional design functioned successfully for much of American history. However, the constitutional safeguard alone is insufficient to protect the democratic political system. Unwritten democratic norms, not explicitly codified in the Constitution or laws, have also played a crucial role.
When democratic norms collapse, democracy itself becomes endangered. The norms playing a core role in maintaining democracy are ‘mutual tolerance’ and ‘institutional restraint,’ traditions older than democracy itself. Mutual tolerance involves acknowledging that competitors possess an equal right to seize power. Conversely, when perceiving an opponent as a threatening enemy, one seeks to prevail by mobilizing all means. Institutional restraint is the attitude of exercising institutionally permitted power cautiously. Even the exercise of legitimate power, if unrestrained, can endanger the existing system. The opposite concept of institutional restraint is the ‘aggressive utilization of constitutional power’. This refers to the attitude of maximizing the use of rules, without breaking them, to eliminate competitors from the competitive arena itself.
These two norms are interrelated. When accepting opponents as competitors, institutional restraint is willingly practiced. Practicing institutional restraint creates a virtuous cycle by fostering an image of a tolerant group. Conversely, when viewing each other as enemies, the norm of mutual tolerance collapses. In such situations, politicians seek to maximize the use of the legal power granted by the system, eroding the norm of mutual tolerance and deepening the perception that competitors are enemies, creating a vicious cycle.
When democratic norms collapse, democracy based on checks and balances faces crises in two scenarios. The first occurs when the opposition party controls the legislature, leading to a split between executive and legislative power. In this case, the opposition wields its constitutionally granted powers to the fullest extent to attack the president. The second scenario involves power concentration when the ruling party controls the legislature. The ruling party disregards democratic norms, striving to strengthen the president’s power and sometimes tacitly condoning the president’s repressive actions to eliminate the opposition.
American democracy faced two major crises since its founding. The first crisis was caused by the Civil War. White plantation owners in the South who supported slavery, along with the Democratic Party aligned with them, perceived the Republican Party, which advocated abolishing slavery at the time, as a serious threat. The South seceded from the Union, ultimately leading to civil war. Democratic norms began reforming only after the Northern Republicans and Southern Democrats excluded racial issues from post-war negotiations. The victorious North, driven by political necessities like preserving the Union, withdrew troops from the South and halted efforts to secure Black civil rights. The Democratic Party suppressed Black civil rights in the South, establishing a foundation for one-party dominance in the region. This series of events mitigated the Democratic Party’s hostility toward the Republican Party, leading to the restoration of norms of mutual tolerance. Paradoxically, the democratic norms that emerged after the Civil War were the product of undemocratic compromises that tacitly accepted racial discrimination. They contributed to maintaining a democracy that functioned primarily for white people for a long period.
The second crisis emerged alongside the expansion of democracy after the 1960s. Black suffrage was institutionally guaranteed, and large-scale immigration brought diverse ethnicities and races into the political system. The Republican and Democratic parties came to represent the interests and values of different groups. Subsequently, competition between the two parties escalated into ‘partisan polarization’. The divide became sharp not only along conservative-progressive policy lines but also based on race, religion, and lifestyle, expanding partisan competition into hostile conflict. In this context, the existing democratic norms, which relied on racial discrimination, showed their limitations and collapsed. Therefore, for American democracy to function healthily, it is necessary to establish new democratic norms.
