The Brexit vote and Trump’s election were decided democratically. So why don’t they feel that way?

The Brexit referendum and Trump’s election were each decided by a free and fair vote, yet large proportions of UK and US citizens have trouble accepting them as truly “democratic.” A working democracy requires more than free elections; it requires additional institutions, such as wellfunctioning political public sphere and a responsive political party system, to channel citizens’ voices into productive public debate and foster a sense of “collective democratic will,” writes Brian Milstein (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt). If these institutions are in a state of decay, democratic politics can start to appear unfocused and erratic – we can even find ourselves subject to decisions that were “formally” democratic, yet somehow don’t “feel” democratic, he argues.