In a recent poll of Australians conducted by the Lowy Institute, 39 percent of Australians aged 18 to 29 say democracy is better than other forms of government. While 23 percent believed that “for someone like me, it doesn’t matter what kind of government we have”; another 37 percent said that non-democratic rule can be best.
Are these strange results for a highly developed, Western democracy such as Australia? Or, even in the most-developed nations, is democracy’s supremacy no longer a foregone conclusion, at least among younger adults? Global economic turmoil in developed countries in recent years, while China maintained brisk growth, is leading some to question old assumptions and the next generation to alter expectations. How would similar polls fair in Europe, Canada, or the United States?
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