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JUNE 5, 2024, 4:33 PM
By Graham Allison, a professor of government at the Harvard Kennedy School.
When asked whether the U.S. government works, most Americans say no.
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more than two-thirds of adults in the United States think the country is going in the wrong direction.
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only 26 percent have confidence in major U.S. institutions, such as the presidency, the Supreme Court, and Congress. Nearly half of Americans aged 18 to 25 say that they believe either that democracy or dictatorship “makes no difference” or that “dictatorship could be good in certain circumstances.”
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three-quarters of Singaporeans are satisfied with how democracy is working in their country. Moreover, 80 percent think their country is heading in the right direction
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Is Singapore simply better at governing than other countries?
To answer this, consider the following three Report Cards, which use data from international organizations to assess Singapore alongside two countries holding major elections this year: the United States and Britain.
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First, Lee Hsien Loong left to his successor a population that is now wealthier than Americans—and almost twice as wealthy as their former British colonial overlords. When he took office in 2004, the so-called Singapore miracle had already happened: Singapore’s economy had soared since the 1960s, taking the country from poverty to having a GDP per capita that was approximately three-quarters of that of the United States, where many analysts thought it would remain. Yet 20 years later, Singapore’s GDP per capita is more than 4 percent higher than that in the United States: US$88,500 compared with US$85,000.
Second, while rapid economic growth often produces greater income disparity, over the past two decades, Singapore has reduced inequality significantly—from 0.47 to 0.37 (as measured by the Gini coefficient, a measure by which 0 equals complete equality and 1 represents complete inequality)—while the United States has remained around 0.47.
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Third, Singaporeans are generally healthier and live longer than their counterparts in the United States and Britain. Just 20 years ago, life expectancy in all three countries was approximately the same. Today, the life expectancy in Singapore is longer (84 years) than that in the United States (76 years) and Britain (80 years). Singapore’s infant mortality has fallen from 27 deaths per 1,000 births in 1965, to 4 in 2004, to 1.8 today—considerably lower than both other countries (US: 5.3, UK: 3.6). Furthermore, 93 percent of Singaporeans express satisfaction with their health care system in contrast to 75 percent of Americans and 77 percent of Britons.
Fourth, Singapore was clearly best prepared for a major public health crisis. Because the COVID-19 pandemic struck all countries at around the same time, it provided a clear test of their response systems. On a per capita basis, around 10 Americans or Britons have died from COVID-19 for every one of their counterparts in Singapore.
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Fifth, while approximately one-third of Singaporeans, Americans, and Britons graduate from university, students in Singapore tend to be academically ahead of their peers in the other two countries. In 2022, 41 percent of Singaporean high schoolers scored as “top performers” on mathematics tests among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, compared with just 7 percent of Americans and 11 percent of Britons.
Sixth, Singapore surpasses both the United States and United Kingdom when it comes to ensuring rule of law and control of corruption, according to the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators. This aligns with OECD data, which shows that Singapore ranks first among OECD countries in citizens’ confidence in their judicial system (89 percent) and in overall satisfaction with their government (93 percent).
Seventh, Singapore is one of the most stable countries in the world: The World Bank ranks it in the 97th percentile of countries for “political stability and absence of violence/terrorism,” up from the 85th percentile two decades ago. The United States, by comparison, is only in the 45th percentile, and the United Kingdom is in the 62nd.
Eighth, multinational corporations generally consider Singapore’s political and legal environment to be the best in the world for doing business. On the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, Singapore has moved up from No. 5 in 2004 to No. 1 today, having passed the United States in 2019. In the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual ranking of countries in which to do business, Singapore has held the No. 1 spot for the past 16 years; the United States typically ranks third, while the United Kingdom is not even among the top 10.
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What is government for? From a Western perspective, the possibility that a more autocratic state could govern more effectively than a more open democracy seems almost unthinkable.
MUCH BETTER TO READ ARTICLE AT: https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/06/05/sin...-politics/
By Graham Allison, a professor of government at the Harvard Kennedy School.
When asked whether the U.S. government works, most Americans say no.
......
more than two-thirds of adults in the United States think the country is going in the wrong direction.
......
only 26 percent have confidence in major U.S. institutions, such as the presidency, the Supreme Court, and Congress. Nearly half of Americans aged 18 to 25 say that they believe either that democracy or dictatorship “makes no difference” or that “dictatorship could be good in certain circumstances.”
......
three-quarters of Singaporeans are satisfied with how democracy is working in their country. Moreover, 80 percent think their country is heading in the right direction
......
Is Singapore simply better at governing than other countries?
To answer this, consider the following three Report Cards, which use data from international organizations to assess Singapore alongside two countries holding major elections this year: the United States and Britain.
......
First, Lee Hsien Loong left to his successor a population that is now wealthier than Americans—and almost twice as wealthy as their former British colonial overlords. When he took office in 2004, the so-called Singapore miracle had already happened: Singapore’s economy had soared since the 1960s, taking the country from poverty to having a GDP per capita that was approximately three-quarters of that of the United States, where many analysts thought it would remain. Yet 20 years later, Singapore’s GDP per capita is more than 4 percent higher than that in the United States: US$88,500 compared with US$85,000.
Second, while rapid economic growth often produces greater income disparity, over the past two decades, Singapore has reduced inequality significantly—from 0.47 to 0.37 (as measured by the Gini coefficient, a measure by which 0 equals complete equality and 1 represents complete inequality)—while the United States has remained around 0.47.
......
Third, Singaporeans are generally healthier and live longer than their counterparts in the United States and Britain. Just 20 years ago, life expectancy in all three countries was approximately the same. Today, the life expectancy in Singapore is longer (84 years) than that in the United States (76 years) and Britain (80 years). Singapore’s infant mortality has fallen from 27 deaths per 1,000 births in 1965, to 4 in 2004, to 1.8 today—considerably lower than both other countries (US: 5.3, UK: 3.6). Furthermore, 93 percent of Singaporeans express satisfaction with their health care system in contrast to 75 percent of Americans and 77 percent of Britons.
Fourth, Singapore was clearly best prepared for a major public health crisis. Because the COVID-19 pandemic struck all countries at around the same time, it provided a clear test of their response systems. On a per capita basis, around 10 Americans or Britons have died from COVID-19 for every one of their counterparts in Singapore.
......
Fifth, while approximately one-third of Singaporeans, Americans, and Britons graduate from university, students in Singapore tend to be academically ahead of their peers in the other two countries. In 2022, 41 percent of Singaporean high schoolers scored as “top performers” on mathematics tests among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, compared with just 7 percent of Americans and 11 percent of Britons.
Sixth, Singapore surpasses both the United States and United Kingdom when it comes to ensuring rule of law and control of corruption, according to the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators. This aligns with OECD data, which shows that Singapore ranks first among OECD countries in citizens’ confidence in their judicial system (89 percent) and in overall satisfaction with their government (93 percent).
Seventh, Singapore is one of the most stable countries in the world: The World Bank ranks it in the 97th percentile of countries for “political stability and absence of violence/terrorism,” up from the 85th percentile two decades ago. The United States, by comparison, is only in the 45th percentile, and the United Kingdom is in the 62nd.
Eighth, multinational corporations generally consider Singapore’s political and legal environment to be the best in the world for doing business. On the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, Singapore has moved up from No. 5 in 2004 to No. 1 today, having passed the United States in 2019. In the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual ranking of countries in which to do business, Singapore has held the No. 1 spot for the past 16 years; the United States typically ranks third, while the United Kingdom is not even among the top 10.
......
What is government for? From a Western perspective, the possibility that a more autocratic state could govern more effectively than a more open democracy seems almost unthinkable.
MUCH BETTER TO READ ARTICLE AT: https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/06/05/sin...-politics/
