How did we get to democracy?

Democracy is historically peculiar. According to LessWrong, until the mid-eighteen hundreds, almost no one lived under democratic rule—today, billions do across roughly half the world's nations. Yet this rise is surprising: it occurred even as governments became vastly more capable at surveillance, propaganda, and control. The trend accelerated in the twentieth century toward liberal democracy, where citizens have protected rights and courts check executive power. But there's no guarantee democracies endure. Some researchers argue we're living in a brief political equilibrium, and data shows democratic decline over roughly the past fifteen years. LessWrong's research group is studying what sustains democracies—examining civil society, rule of law, and institutional parties—and how advanced AI might disrupt these foundations.

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