Can modern democracy, with its roots in 18th century ideas and its heyday in the middle of the last century, not only survive but also sustain progressive politics in the 21st century? We approach this question firmly in the midst of the Trump era in American politics, with a populist upstart president having largely succeeded in bringing a sometimes restive, sometimes enthusiast Republican party into line with his policy agenda, while also provoking deep discontent and anger among those who do not support his agenda or approach to governing. We will seek a deeper understanding of Trumpism and the kindred populist movements roiling politics in much of the democratic world by examining the failures of contemporary democratic politics and their social, cultural and technological roots. We will pursue insight into the forces endangering 21st century democracy, surveying contemporary scholarship relating current events to longer-term structural forces damaging democracy. Issues to be studied include the rapid growth of economic inequality, the rise of a global economy, decline of responsiveness of electoral representatives, the fracturing of civil culture, and changes in communication and the public sphere brought about by the rise of new technology and media. We will revisit some themes covered in earlier courses, but the material for this course is entirely new and the questions we will seek to answer are more systematic: Does the convergence of several trends, hostile to modern, representative democracy threaten to render it pathological or self-defeating for the foreseeable future? Or do the rise of new forms of political protest and popular mobilization reveal that forces capable of restoring democratic health have perhaps been unleashed in response to recent populist waves and democratic distortions? If democracy is to be reconstructed in ways that reconcile the normative aspirations of popular self-rule with contemporary social, cultural and technological conditions, what kinds of reform are necessary?