Fritz Sager explores the political implications of policy accumulation in modern democratic states. Existing research suggests that policy accumulation can lead to more conflictual politics with repercussions for democratic legitimacy and stability.
In order to better understand the relationship between policy accumulation and political conflict, policy is conceptualized as one of the primary tools with which democratic states manage political conflicts. This presentation will outline the role of policy perceptions, policy formulation, and policy design and implementation in democratic conflict management.
Effective policy-centered conflict management keeps conflict about policy priorities within ‘cultivated bounds’. Ineffective policy-centered conflict management either suppresses underlying conflicts or contributes to their escalation. Whether and to which degree democratic states become more conflictual and democratically unstable depends in large measure on how successfully their policy infrastructures mediate political conflicts.
