1. Democracy defined : -- What is American democracy? 20 common forms of government--study starters / David A. Tomar -- What exactly is neoliberalism? / Kean Birch -- Democracy's midlife crisis : an interview with David Runciman / David Runciman, Danielle Charette, Jacob Hamburger -- History and democracy / Sean Wilentz -- Is the United States of America a republic or a democracy? / Eugene Volokh -- Are we witnessing the death of liberal democracy / Ian McKay -- 2. Democracy in context : -- Democratic identity and economy : the rise of authoritarian capitalism / Kevin Rudd -- Big fail : the internet hasn't helped democracy / Robert Diab -- American democracy is ailing : thinking like an economist can help / Gary Saul Morson, Morton Schapiro -- Economic freedom is essential to democracy / William Dunkelberg -- E pluribus unum? The fight over identity politics / Stacey Y. Abrams, John Sides, Michael Tesler, Lynn Vavreck, Jennifer A. Richeson, Francis Fukuyama -- 3. Democracy or dictatorship? -- Democratic authoritarianism : American democracy is in crisis, and not just because of Trump / Simon Tisdall -- American democracy has gone through dark times before / Robert Dallek -- Lessons in the decline of democracy from the ruined Roman republic / Jason Daley -- A major democracy watchdog just published a scathing report on Trump / Zack Beauchamp -- Why is American democracy in danger? / Eric Schoon, Corey Pech -- 4. How fragile is democracy? -- The global view : the growing signs of the fragility and resilience of liberal democracy / Heidi Koolmeister -- Yes, we need to do better : world leaders talk democracy / The New York Times -- Despite global concerns about democracy, more than half of countries are democratic / Drew DeSilver -- Democracy is more fragile than many of us realized, but don't believe that it is doomed / Andrew Rawnsley -- Poland's nationalism threatens Europe's values and cohesion / Steven Erlanger, Marc Santora -- 5. What do we think of democracy? -- Attitudes and approaches : the public, the political system and American democracy / Pew Research Center -- 20 of America's top political scientists gathered to discuss our democracy : they're scared / Sean Illing -- What the world can learn about equality from the Nordic model / Geoffrey M. Hodgson -- The Nordic Democratic-Socialist myth / Nima Sanandaji -- Are millennials giving up on democracy? / Neil Howe -- On the sidelines of democracy : exploring why so many Americans don't vote / Asma Khalid, Don Gonyea, Leila Fadel.