Democratic Resilience and the Time(s) of Organization. An Agenda for Analyzing Societies Under Pressure

Abstract Democratic resilience is not only a frequently discussed concept in the social sciences but also a vital societal concern and an increasingly relevant social phenomenon. Organizational sociology can make a meaningful contribution to these debates. Organizations play a central role in shaping the ability of democratic societies to cope with, adapt to, and transform in the face of autocratic threats. They do not act alone but interact with other organizations, negotiating specific issues central to democratic resilience. These organizations vary in their interests, resources, and backgrounds, as well as in their temporal orientations, horizons, and time regimes. By connecting recent and classical organizational research, we highlight how attending to the plurality of time(s) in organizations can illuminate key aspects of democratic resilience. These aspects include the enduring role of bureaucratic structures, the stable enactment of democratic values across diverse organizations, the interplay of organizational visions for the future, and the allocation of responsibility for democratic principles within polycentric organizational fields.