| Popis: |
Democracies have compiled a historical record of strong state capacity, dramatically reducing poverty, educating their residents, delivering large-scale projects, and developing powerful militaries to secure themselves. In recent years, however, autocratic countries like China and Singapore have challenged democracies’ claim to superior state capacity—another narrative of democratic superiority—and democracies have had difficulty keeping pace. This chapter asks why the ability of democracies to “get it done” has been called into question. Two reasons are proposed—first, the dysfunction of legislatures in democratic countries; second, the decline of parties in democracies, as opposed to dominant parties in other systems with long time horizons and the capacity to maneuver around veto points that proliferate in democracies. The chapter concludes by arguing that state incapacity and legislative dysfunction have made executive unilateralism a tempting alternative to voters for populist parties. |
