Others seem to believe democracy is intrinsically superior to other forms of governance; I’m quite skeptical of that, though agree with tylermjohn that it is often the best way to avoid specific kinds of abuse and coercion.
My guess is that the current non-democratic EA institutions have serious flaws, and democratic replacement institutions would have even more serious flaws, and it’s still worth trying the democratic institutions (in parallel to the current ones) because 2 flawed structures are better than 1. (For example, because the democratic institutions fund important critical work that the current institutions do not.)
I think this likely depends on who else is funding work in a given area, and what the other funders’ flaws/blind spots are. For instance, if the democratic EA alternative has many of the same flaws/blind spots of larger funders in a cause area, diverting resources from current EA efforts would likely lead to worse outcomes in the cause area as a whole.
My guess is that the current non-democratic EA institutions have serious flaws, and democratic replacement institutions would have even more serious flaws, and it’s still worth trying the democratic institutions (in parallel to the current ones) because 2 flawed structures are better than 1. (For example, because the democratic institutions fund important critical work that the current institutions do not.)
I think this likely depends on who else is funding work in a given area, and what the other funders’ flaws/blind spots are. For instance, if the democratic EA alternative has many of the same flaws/blind spots of larger funders in a cause area, diverting resources from current EA efforts would likely lead to worse outcomes in the cause area as a whole.