Lately, voters in established democracies seem eager to shake things up.
Brexit revealed underlying cracks in the European Union. An anti-immigration backlash led to a wave of right-wing populist victories in Europe. And U.S. voters elected President Donald Trump, who has lavished praise on several strongmen leaders. Last week, he sided with Russia President Vladimir Putin over the U.S. intelligence community (he later said he misspoke—and then walked back his walk-back).
On the surface, these shifts in governments show precisely what a functioning democracy is capable of—voters dictate what they want at the ballot box.
But not all elections are equal.