‘Peter Andrews is an Irish science journalist and writer, based in London. He has a background in the life sciences, and graduated from the University of Glasgow with a degree in Genetics
A new study has delivered a huge reality shock to career politicians and liberal elites—that dissatisfaction with democracy has been rising for decades, and especially in the developed world is approaching an all-time global high.
World leaders love to toot the horn of democracy. To take just three recent examples, Angela Merkel, Justin Trudeau and even Barack Obama have all weighed in on how great their country’s democracies are. This would be all very well, if only the people agreed.
But according to research published this week by the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, a think tank based at the University of Cambridge, they do not. The findings were borne by asking citizens a simple question; whether they were satisfied or dissatisfied with democracy in their countries. Surveys conducted between 1973 and 2020 were analysed.
In total, the question was posed to over 4 million people. By combining all of these sources they were able to outline the changing perceptions of democracy over the past 25 years worldwide, and over the past 50 years in Western Europe.’
