… Democracy is a process. Elections are held; winners take office; and policies are implemented.
Crucially, it is expected that the “losers” from this process — those whose policies are not implemented — will not turn to extra-systemic (read: violent revolutionary) means to overturn those policies. Why? Because they can hold open hope that there is a nonviolent way by which they could get to make policy: winning a future election. …
Democracy requires the assumption that electoral losers will cede power; threatening to lock up your opponent calls into question whether that assumption remains valid. CONT.
Joshua Tucker (NYU), The Monkey Cage