Democracy’s ultimate boast is that societies do best when people take responsibility for their lives. Covid-19 has been putting that theory to the test. Every few months the west pops the proverbial champagne to celebrate the end of the pandemic. The hangover is worse for its predictability. The fact that western democracies are rarely able to think more than one step ahead augurs badly for their ability to fight global warming — or plan for the next pandemic.
Instant gratification is a trait usually associated with children. In the 1960s, a Stanford University scholar devised the famous marshmallow test that rewarded young children who could resist eating one marshmallow for several minutes by giving them two. The “cool” kids — those who resisted temptation — went on to do better in life than those with “hot” ways of thinking who could not wait.
This will ring familiar to anyone observing the west’s handling of coronavirus. Data and anecdote leave little doubt that democracies are the worst-governed societies in the world, apart from all the others. Strongmen are no panacea. Since democracies have what academics call “system legitimacy” they are better insulated from having to pander to the masses than autocracies, which rely on “performance legitimacy”, as well as intimidation. China’s leaders, in other words, should fear an angry population more than America’s.