This paper examines democracy as a resilient system, emphasising the role of applied analysis in shaping effective policy and programs, particularly in Australia. It proposes a practical agenda centred on three core strengthening flows of democratic resilience: trusted institutions, credible information and social inclusion.

Elections are central to democracy, but they are only one dimension of the broader democratic process. Current indices that measure democratic health show deterioration across more countries than those that are strengthening. While democratic indicators serve as a warning system, they do not provide actionable insights for innovation or to guide policy design and implementation at national or sub-national levels.

By integrating resilience frameworks and policy analysis, this paper demonstrates how real-time monitoring and analysis can enable innovation, experimentation and cross-sector ingenuity.

The paper presents a practical research agenda connecting a national network of scholars and civil society leaders. It suggests that the agenda be problem-driven, facilitated by participatory approaches to asking and prioritising the questions that matter most. The paper:

1. explores the conceptual issues related to democratic resilience
2. sets out an approach to monitoring democratic resilience, diagnosing drivers of democratic strength and evaluating the evidence of what works
3. outlines a research and data agenda to address interconnected challenges and generate actionable insights.