Social inclusion, social exclusion, and the role of leaders in avoiding—or promoting—societal collapse

• Published date: 01 May 2023
• Author: Montgomery Wart,Miranda McIntyre,Jeremy L. Hall
• Date: 01 May 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13607

VIEWPOINT

Social inclusion, social exclusion, and the role of leaders in

avoiding—or promoting—societal collapse

Montgomery Van Wart

1

| Miranda McIntyre

2

| Jeremy L. Hall

3

1

Department of Public Administration, California

State University San Bernadino, San Bernardino,

California, USA

2

Department of Psychology, California State

University San Bernadino, San Bernardino,

California, USA

3

School of Public Administration, University of

Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA

Correspondence

Montgomery Van Wart, Department of Public

Administration, California State University San

Bernadino, San Bernardino, California, USA.

Email: mvanwart@csusb.edu

Abstract

Not since the late 1850s has the United States seen the portents leading to a

major political crisis be so numerous and grave. Over the last two decades, local

and national social capital has steeply declined, culminating in a near-collapse of

social capital within the last 6 years. The potential for a national political crisis is

now more plausible, making a dramatic crisis (e.g., bloodless revolt, a civil war, or

secession) conceivable within a generation. This article reviews the interlocking

concepts of social inclusion, social exclusion, radicalization, and societal collapse

and draws from these concepts to elucidate the antecedents to major political cri-

ses. We connect these observations to the central role of political and administra-

tive leadership in a democratic society in challenging times. Integrative

recommendations for combating extremism and radicalization are provided to

highlight key strategies for restoring social capital and stability.

Evidence for practice

•In recent years, there are mounting signs of declining social capital and a dra-

matically increasing potential for an impending societal collapse within the

United States.

•Social, economic, and political exclusion mechanisms fuel radicalization and are

direct antecedents of a major societal crisis.

•Leadership at all levels must adopt anti-extremist practices to reduce social exclu-

sion and forestall radicalization. Concrete action is necessary within government,

businesses, and the citizenry to restore stability and prevent significant upheaval.

INTRODUCTION

Journalists and politicians now speak regularly and

openly about a cold civil war being fought between the

polarized political left and the extreme political right in

the United States (Wulfsohn, 2022). The concept is resur-

rected each time a riot foments, an assault is attempted

on elected officials, or election deniers storm a govern-

ment building. The idea of a cold civil war also comes up

regularly in political discourse to describe mounting frus-

trations within our largest factions—the Democrat and

Republican parties—regarding widening disagreement

among their policy positions and the increasing influence

of extreme within-party factions. This chaotic and

contentious environment provides the backdrop against

which federal, state, and local agencies strive to deliver

public services to their constituents. Their leaders—

mayors, governors, agency chiefs, and the president—set

the general tone and offer proactive visions and reactive

interpretations that unelected officials look to for guid-

ance in how they carry out their daily work and interact

with the stakeholders they serve. A few hours with the

major news broadcasts around any election leaves little

doubt that these are perilous times. Fear and frustration

seem to be the dominant emotions, with forgiveness and

facilitation nowhere in sight. Consequently, we must bet-

ter prepare those elected leaders and public managers at

all levels to rein in the rhetoric, or at the very least, to

Received: 11 November 2022 Revised: 30 January 2023 Accepted: 30 January 2023

DOI: 10.1111/puar.13607

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium,

provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

© 2023 The Authors. Public Administration Review published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Public Administration.

Public Admin Rev. 2023;83:691–701. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/puar 691