Aspiring democracies look to the U.S. as a role model, but the shutdown makes us look silly.
WARSAW—Over the past 20 years, I’ve spent a lot of time in countries that are not democracies but would like to be. First in Central Europe and the former Soviet Union, more recently in North Africa, I’ve met many, many people who are trying to figure out how to translate that elusive, almost mystical concept, “the will of the people,” into the practical matters of government: taxation, public spending, defense, law and order, garbage collection. Over and over again, I’ve watched them construct institutions designed to make possible that translation from the mystical into the practical: parliaments, presidencies, court systems. Sooner or later, they all learn that the act of voting is a necessary but insufficient component of democracy. Without legitimate representative and executive institutions—institutions that can translate the “will of the people” into concrete policies—democracy always fails.
