America, the world’s richest democracy, produced Donald Trump. India, the world’s biggest democracy, produced Narendra Modi. Britain, the world’s oldest democracy, produced Boris Johnson. Brazil, the world’s largest Latin democracy, produced Jair Bolsonaro. Italy, the world’s most volatile democracy, produced Silvio Berlusconi. The Philippines, Asia’s first democracy, produced Rodrigo Duterte.

Has democracy, in practice, been producing performers rather than governance models? Increasingly, there appears to be a gap between leaders who master the art of winning elections and those who possess the expertise to govern effectively. The incentives of democratic politics often reward charisma, populism and vote-getting strategies over competence, institution-building and long-term policymaking.

Donald Trump, a reality television star, turned politics into a spectacle. Donald Trump relies on three things: rallies,........

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