If you are worried about the uncertain fate of democracy in today’s world, what should you do? Become a human rights advocate, maybe, or a campaigning journalist. Or maybe you should consider becoming a Protestant missionary.
In today’s Times, Danny Finkelstein draws our attention to the democracy index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit. It tells us that democracy has been in decline since 2006, and in recent years it has downgraded some of the most seemingly solid democracies, including the US, from ‘full democracies’ to ‘flawed democracies’.
It is rather unfashionable to speak of the Protestant roots of liberty
I had a look at the top ten ‘full democracies’. Maybe I am biased to notice such things, but it struck that me that eight of last year’s top ten have something in common. They are historically Protestant. The exceptions are Taiwan and Ireland. And Ireland is arguably historically Protestant too. Maybe last year was a blip – so I looked at the previous year.
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