The 2020 version of the Global Satisfaction with Democracy report, issued annually by the University of Cambridge, concludes that “democracy is in a state of deep malaise.” The researchers found that since they began their work in 1995, dissatisfaction with democracy has “risen over time, and is reaching an all-time global high, in particular in developed democracies.” This conclusion was as depressing as it was consistent with other studies.
The report did, however, find an “island of contentment,” a select group of countries in which less than a quarter of the public expresses discontent with their political system. (Read more…) Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands, for example, satisfaction with democracy is bucking the trend and reaching all-time highs. Austria, Ireland and Luxembourg round out the contented few.
The researchers used “a new data set combining more than 25 data sources, 3,500 country surveys, and 4 million respondents between 1973 and 2020 asking citizens whether they are satisfied or dissatisfied with democracy in their countries.” They created four categories to represent the range form dissatisfaction to satisfaction: crisis, malaise, concern and contented. The latter two include countries where at least half the population is satisfied with their democracy. Canada was at least well across that threshold, sitting in the “concern” category, better than the U.S. which sits in the “malaise” group.
What, one wonders, do the chosen few have in common that might lead them to the contented isle. One answer of course is that they all rich. But that alone is obviously not the answer. All the Anglo nations are rich but none made the cut. The contented countries also have solid social welfare systems and that must surely help. Knowing that your society has your back will no doubt boost your confidence in your governance.
And then there is another commonality that may be an important factor—they all use proportional representation (PR) voting systems. Even among the Anglo nations, the one that uses a PR system (New Zealand) showed the greatest satisfaction. Is it possible that if your government is democratically elected, i.e. election results accurately reflect the will of the people, you have a greater confidence and greater satisfaction with democracy? Now there’s a thought.