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> This is pretty much describing the US, which is both not a democracy (it’s a republic. And a bad example of one) and not what I’m talking about. I'm glad we
by ossobuco 2y ago
> This is pretty much describing the US, which is both not a democracy (it’s a republic. And a bad example of one) and not what I’m talking about.
I'm glad we agree on this, but I'll add that all so-called democracies suffer from the same problem.
> I’m talking about democracy and dictatorships as forms of governance in the abstract.
Yes, talking in the abstract is all we can do, because honestly, I can't find any true examples of democracy at the moment.
- brianmcc 2y agoAs is so often the case in these sorts of "countries that function quite well", the Scandinavians aren't doing too badly: https://www.democracymatrix.com/ranking https://www.democracymatrix.com/ranking USA is #36, a "deficient democracy". Not a surprise and sadly I can see it only dropping further in the near future. The scale, interestingly, goes: - Working Democracy - Deficient Democracy - Hybrid Regime - Moderate Autocracy - Hard Autocracy Further details on methodology -> https://www.democracymatrix.com/conception/democracy-matrix https://www.democracymatrix.com/conception/democracy-matrix
- ossobuco 2y agohttps://x.com/yanisvaroufakis/status/1891776006236618793 https://x.com/yanisvaroufakis/status/1891776006236618793 Germany is fifth. Tells me all I need to know about this ranking.
- dartos 2y agoPure democracy is not very good. It's just governance by mob rule (which is bad for the same reason populism is bad) Which is why republics have been succesful. Ideally me, as an idividual, should be able to trust a local leader enough to have them represent me in government. That way I am free to live my life and trust the local leader to handle politics in my best interests. It rarely ends up that clean, but it happens sometimes.