1. Dr. Lori Turnbull Associate Professor, Dalhousie University
    The Poverties of Modern Liberal Democracy Prepared for the annual IPAC Conference, August 20-22, 2018, Quebec City, QC
Dr. Andrea Migone, Research Director, Institute of Public Administration of Canada
Dr. Lori Turnbull Associate Professor, Dalhousie University

2. Class, Democracy & Globalization
During the past 40 or so years the concepts of Class, Democracy and Globalization have played a key, often interlocked, role in the political arrangements of our polities. Within modern liberal democracy there is a tension between strict meta-boundaries and loose, flexible action.
Democratic political mechanisms for political competition
Free markets as economic exchange system
Liberal philosophy supporting human rights and unbundled identities as social framework
Individual and organizational action is highly flexible and it is given relatively few boundaries outside of those prescribed by law
Fluidity and innovation dominate the narrative

3. The primacy of fluidity
Our polities favor innovative, fluid and dynamic social, cultural, organizational and economic patterns, which appear to present shorter and shorter half-lives.
From a normative stance, often the fit between MLD and a group, a product or an idea is measured in the latter’s capacity to continuously evolve rather than in its capacity to adapt to established rules.
This applies across the board to individuals, groups, and organizations.

4. Polities are based on the balance between power distribution among various interests and the organizational system that underpins it. At a minimum, this involves:
A mechanism for the circulation of the elites/Government
A system of social rules
An economic system, which includes a viable mechanism for the redistribution of wealth among social groups
These elements are correlated and to an extent integrated, forming political, social and economic dynamic equilibria, which shift over time and location. So we can think of mobility being managed as a dynamic equilibrium among these three systems.

5. Democracy
Liberalism
Keynesianism

6. As changes occur in these three systems, the institutional arrangements embodied in the mechanisms may lag behind these shifts and a process of de-synchronization can ensue.
In the 2nd half of the 20th Century the middle class became a critical stepping stone in supporting the liberal/free markets/democracy trinity.
However, especially the economic redistribution side has changed, and fluidity also challenges social rules. This appears to have an impact on the political sphere.

7. Three poverties of modern liberal democracy
Poverty of time: within the dynamics of capitalist liberal democracy time is increasingly commoditized.
Poverty of security: in the global system less and less certainty about the future is available to citizens.
Poverty of information: the intense globalization of information production and distribution resulted in a situation where individuals are exposed to a flood of data and speculation, which reduces the percentage of available critically developed information.   

8. A Culture of Triage
Very clear distinctions exist today between those who embrace this dynamic modernity and its fluidity and those who will not.
Increasingly a culture of triage is emerging where the latter are abandoned and resource and attention is increasingly focused on the organizations and individuals who can keep up with the dynamics of current global flows.

9. Canadian Democracy in the Age of Globalization
Promiscuous voters and shallow political leaders (party loyalty in decline; populism on the rise; we are literally “shopping for votes;” leaders aren’t leading – they follow opinion polls)
Disruptive technology outpaces government reactions (realities are disconnected)
Precarious work is inherently destabilizing and transforms the existential state of the middle class (parents fear that their children will be worse off than they are; this fuels populism)