After the end of the Cold War, democratization in the former Soviet Union and East Europe, the “Arab Spring” in North Africa and the Middle East, and political polarization in the U.S. are the manifestations of three different types of problems and crises for democracy: democracy and democratization, democratization and democratic consolidation, and democratic system and modern governance. The decay of contemporary American democratic system is a consequence of the contradiction and conflict between the Madisonian republican system and modern governance. Therefore, the failures of democratic transition and consolidation, and the contradiction between democratic system and modern governance constitute the dilemmas of the contemporary development of democracy. “Strong government and effective governance” has become a global trend.