#87 A Not-So-Peaceful Transfer Of Power🎧

<em>This newsletter is really a public policy thought-letter. While excellent newsletters on specific themes within public policy already exist, this thought-letter is about frameworks, mental models, and key ideas that will hopefully help you think about any public policy problem in imaginative ways. It seeks to answer just one question: </em><strong><em>how do I think about a particular public policy problem/solution?</em></strong><br/><br/><em>Welcome to the mid-week edition in which we write essays on a public policy theme. The usual public policy review comes out on weekends.</em><br/><br/><em>PS: If you enjoy listening instead of reading, we have this edition available as an audio narration on all podcasting platforms courtesy the good folks at </em><a target="_blank" href="https://www.ad-auris.com/"><em>Ad-Auris</em></a><em>. If you have any feedback, please send it to us.</em><br/><br/><em>- RSJ</em><br/><br/>Democracies have periodic elections to ascertain the will of its people on who should govern them. Often the incumbents lose. This leads to a nebulous, yet perhaps the most precious of features of a democracy – the peaceful transfer of power between the vanquished and the winner. In most democracies, there isn’t a written down law on how this should happen. Instead there are norms of conduct and fair play that guide this. The idea that someone voluntarily steps aside and lets an opponent take over the reins of power is fraught with risk. There’s no guarantee if this gesture will be reciprocated or perpetuated in future. The ability to transcend this fear is what makes democracies tick around the world. <br/><br/>Cannot Be Taken For Granted<br/><br/>How precious this feature is can be gauged from this study done by Adam Przeworski of New York University that was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/10/16/orderly-transfers-of-power-occur-less-often-than-you-might-think">cited by the Economist</a> a few weeks back.<br/><br/>“Mr Przeworski’s database, which analyses elec