World’s complexities defy political labels

At the start of last year, China had a Covid-19 pandemic, so claimed Western pundits, because communist authoritarianism was incapable of dealing with it. Now, mainland Chinese are gloating about their country’s success and the “failure” of Western democracy to stop the virus.

“People around the world have seen how incapable ‘democratic’ countries are in dealing with such a public health crisis as the Covid-19 pandemic,” a Global Times opinion piece said.

But both claims are meaningless, even absurd. Some democracies have managed the pandemic better than others; likewise, some authoritarian governments have done better than others. Those labels for political regimes have little predictive or explanatory value.

By now, it should be clear that fig-leaf labels such as democracy and authoritarianism tell us little or nothing about the ability of a government or country to address the most pressing issues humanity has to face today – pandemics, climate change, environmental degradation, social and economic inequalities, corruption, poverty, and freedom and modern slavery.

They are useful for politicians and pundits to hide an agenda, and for people to take up political positions without knowing what they are about. So go with all the other pressing but complex issues confronting humanity.

Like other countries, different democracies pursue different public health and economic policies, sometimes even different policies at different times by the same government. You might as well ask whether Islamic or Christian countries deal with the pandemic better.

In terms of preventing deaths and containing economic damage, health experts and economists have observed wide disparities in outcomes among democracies. Denmark, Finland, Norway and Israel are often put at the top of the list; likewise, Estonia, Luxembourg, Poland, Ireland, New Zealand and Switzerland.

They are followed by Greece, Germany, Canada, Australia and Sweden. Those that fare worse include Britain, Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary. And India, Brazil and the United States arguably deserve a place at the bottom.

Writing in the British newspaper The Times last week, Indian artist Anish Kapoor explains why so many people are dying from the pandemic in his country.

“Sixty per cent of the population – 800 million people – live, or more accurately survive, in abject poverty and are forced into invisibility. The harshness of caste boundaries and endemic social segregation means they are the downtrodden of the Earth and it matters not if they live or die.”

His words should give us pause.