On Collapse and the Next U . S . Democracy: Elements of Applied Systemic Research

While concern has been growing in recent years about the structural precursors to economic collapse in the U nited S tates, and a parallel decline in democracy, few have asked: (1) what moral and cultural foundations might be necessary as building blocks to launch a democratic renewal and (2) whether a different and “deep” democracy might be constructed this time that accords everyday citizens the agency they will need to initiate policy at the national level. The article introduces a research methodology to frame and assess change at this macro, or systemic, register and examines the role that education can play in teaching citizens how to exercise agency in a reconstituted democracy that is more nearly “by, for, and of the people.”