Governance, Politics and Design

RELATED TERMS: Politics and the Political

That forms of governance are ‘designed’ is often acknowledged only in passing. For example, the trend towards authoritarianism in the politics of the USA is recognised by some to have accelerated under Trump rather than to have begun with him. To argue that US authoritarianism began with Trump, Abdelrahman ElGendy (cited in Roth, 2025) comments, is to assume that the USA was a healthy, functioning democracy that faltered, which ElGendy thinks is not the case. He continues,

“When a democracy is designed with this capacity for authoritarianism you’re never more than one election away from its reappearance. That’s not an accident, that’s a design flaw.” (ElGendy, cited in Roth, 2025)

Reference

Roth, A. (2025) Has Trump succeeded in normalising American autocracy?, Guardian, 31 August. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/31/trump-american-autocracy-authoritarianism (Accessed: 31 August 2025).