Why politics feels overwhelming—and how to fix it | Tamara Cofman Wittes | TEDxMidAtlantic

Most people worldwide say democracy matters to them, yet many feel their democracy is not working. Tamara Cofman Wittes argues that politics has been pushed into a fast, reactive mode by an attention economy built on conflict, leaving little room for slow reasoning. The talk also looks at examples from Malawi and Venezuela, where citizens used patient preparation to separate falsehoods from facts during tense elections.

• Why democracy is being practiced in a fast, reactive way
• How an attention economy built on conflict shapes political debate
• Examples of citizens in Malawi and Venezuela who slowed democratic processes down
• The everyday civic work needed to protect democracy

Around the world, most people say living in a democracy matters to them — and most also say their democracy isn't working. Tamara Cofman Wittes thinks she knows why: we're practicing democracy too fast. Borrowing Kahneman's split between the fast, emotional mind and the slow, reasoning one, she argues that an attention economy built on conflict has pushed us to do all of our democracy in the reactive register. A viral clip is long enough to start a fight but far too short to change a mind — and "democracy fast," she warns, is a gift to leaders like Putin and Xi, who profit when a society stays angry and divided. The hopeful turn is that the antidote is already in our hands. Drawing on her work with civic movements abroad, Wittes tells the stories of citizens in Malawi and Venezuela who slowed democracy back down to a human pace — ordinary people who, through patient preparation, drew a clear line between a lie and the truth at moments when an election could have tipped into chaos. What they did is more concrete, and more replicable, than it sounds. The question she leaves with the audience is whether we'll do the unglamorous work democracy actually runs on — practiced every day, not just on election day, and alongside people we disagree with but who still believe it's worth protecting. What would it take to take our own democracy off the fast track? Tamara Cofman Wittes became the fourth president of the National Democratic Institute in 2024. Before joining the Institute, she served as Director of Foreign Assistance in the U.S Department of State. Previously, she led the Russia sanctions effort for the State Department's sanctions coordination office. Dr. Wittes also served in the State Department from 2009 - 2012 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, coordinating U.S. policy on democracy and human rights in the Middle East during the Arab uprisings. Dr. Wittes spent nearly twenty years as a foreign policy scholar at the Brookings Institution, including as director of its Center for Middle East Policy. Her analysis focused on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, political and economic change in the region, and the Arab-Israel conflict. She is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, where she has taught courses in international relations, Middle East policy, and security studies. Dr. Wittes was one of the first recipients of the Rabin-Peres Peace Award, established by President Bill Clinton in 1997. Dr. Wittes has published three books, most recently Foreign Policy Careers for PhDs: A Practical Guide to a World of Possibilities (Georgetown University Press, 2023). She holds a bachelor’s in Judaic and Near Eastern studies from Oberlin College, and master’s and doctoral degrees in Government from Georgetown University. She is a founder of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security, and served on the board of the National Democratic Institute from 2014 - 2022. She is also a member of the Council o