The Economist online had a recent article titled ‘Declining Trust in Government is Denting Democracy” The gist of the article is that there is that one of the Economist group of companies measures many factors in many countries, and uses them to make an index of how well democracy works in each country, using a ten point scale. They call 0-4 an authoritarian regime, 4-6 a hybrid regime, 6-8 a flawed democracy and 8 – 10 a full democracy.
The headline item was that the USA’s rating had slipped a bit, dropping it just under 8, into the ‘flawed democracy’ category. The broader story is sliding ratings for many ‘western’ countries, tied into declining faith in institutions and elected representatives.
OK, so that is a story, I guess. But what got me thinking is that I’m not entirely sure I agree with however they put together their rating. I mean sure, faith in representatives and institutions is important for them to be able to do their job effectively – but isn’t questioning them and even tearing them down sometimes also part of democracy? That not everything works the way that it is intended to, or things drift over time, or the needs of society shift while institutions or leaders don’t.
Companies can sell divisions, close operations, lay off segments of their workforce and various other methods of changing their focus – and companies that don’t change can get bought out or go out of business entirely sometimes. Countries don’t have quite those same options, but isn’t the equivalent sometimes expressing doubts about the people at the wheel, or for that matter how the whole steering mechanism works?
I'm curious what others think: loss of faith in institutions and leaders -- is that a decline in democracy, or democracy working as intended?
The headline item was that the USA’s rating had slipped a bit, dropping it just under 8, into the ‘flawed democracy’ category. The broader story is sliding ratings for many ‘western’ countries, tied into declining faith in institutions and elected representatives.
OK, so that is a story, I guess. But what got me thinking is that I’m not entirely sure I agree with however they put together their rating. I mean sure, faith in representatives and institutions is important for them to be able to do their job effectively – but isn’t questioning them and even tearing them down sometimes also part of democracy? That not everything works the way that it is intended to, or things drift over time, or the needs of society shift while institutions or leaders don’t.
Companies can sell divisions, close operations, lay off segments of their workforce and various other methods of changing their focus – and companies that don’t change can get bought out or go out of business entirely sometimes. Countries don’t have quite those same options, but isn’t the equivalent sometimes expressing doubts about the people at the wheel, or for that matter how the whole steering mechanism works?
I'm curious what others think: loss of faith in institutions and leaders -- is that a decline in democracy, or democracy working as intended?
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