Interesting article. I find it a little bit ironic, though, to say "it's more complicated than just a one dimension", and then to use what sounds like "naive me

Interesting article. I find it a little bit ironic, though, to say "it's more complicated than just a one dimension", and then to use what sounds like "naive metrics" to e.g. compare democracies. Isn't it arbitrary to say "the longest standing"? What about "the oldest"? Would Greece qualify? Or "the happiest"? Or "the less unequal"? There are surely many ways to compare democracies. > Events are pro-democratic [...] such as free and fair elections with multiple parties, and courts and parliaments; Apart from being the "longest standing" democracy, could one ask if it is the most exemplary? Shouldn't that count as well? There are only two parties in the US, and they don't exactly cover the largest spectrum of political opinions. For many other countries, the US don't have a "left" at all: in comparison they would be the right (democrats) and the far right (republicans). > or if they are in support of civil liberties such as freedom of association and speech. Same thing here: "freedom of speech" is more complicated than it seems. Does being in support of hate speech count as pro-democratic? One could ask... When Elon Musk, after making nazi salutes himself, says that Germany is against free speech because it is illegal to make a nazi salute there, does that count as pro-democracy?