Science and Technology

This week, Britain installed its seventh prime minister in barely a decade. France has churned through almost as many in just a few years. Its next president may well be the once-outcast Marine Le Pen. In Germany, the far-right AfD, tiny just a few years ago, now polls in first place. Even East Asian democracies—often viewed as stable, cautious, even boring—have seen governments in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan struggle in the midst of growing public anger. And where populists are in power, the situation doesn’t seem that different. Donald Trump now hovers near the lowest approval rating of any modern American president at this point in their term.

Can today’s democracies function?

This week, Britain installed its seventh prime minister in barely a decade. France has churned through almost as many in just a few years. Its next president may well be the once-outcast Marine Le Pen. In Germany, the far-right AfD, tiny just a few years ago, now polls in first place. Even East Asian democracies—often viewed as stable, cautious, even boring—have seen governments in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan struggle in the midst of growing public anger. And where populists are in power, the situation doesn’t seem that different. Donald Trump now hovers near the lowest approval rating of any modern American president at this point in their term.

Can today’s democracies function?

Across the democratic world, many countries tax, borrow, and spend exorbitant amounts. Spending now averages more than 40 percent of gross domestic product in countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the ratio of central government debt-to-GDP in those countries has more than doubled over the last 30 years. But people don’t seem to think they have benefited.

Why has this happened? Some of it is economic. Expensive housing, stagnant incomes, and widening inequality have........

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