This four-part mini-series follows on from 2020’s series on the constitution and independence, taking a more in-depth look at the political and democratic elements.
Using the criteria mentioned in the first section, let’s see where Wales is in comparison to some of our peers.
I’ve opted to use a 1-5 scale for what I believe to be the strengths and weaknesses. That’s an opinion not an objective fact – so I’ll at least attempt to justify the scores:
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What can we take from that?
Firstly, there’s probably no such thing as a “perfect democracy”. Some of the countries on that list (such as Switzerland, Denmark and New Zealand) are often held up as examples for Wales to follow but have problems of their own.
The obvious weaknesses in Wales compared to elsewhere are levels of engagement and information; we don’t have a very well-informed electorate compared to our peers (though no doubt many people would dispute that because it’s “talking Wales down”). That’s potentially dangerous, but the impact is somewhat limited as the Senedd is restricted in what it can do (see also: Devil’s Advocate – Devolution is bad; independence would be worse).
While this is only a snapshot, nearly all of them use a form of proportional representation – though it’s not uncommon for different voting systems to be used at different tiers of government (Part III). Most nations have an independent electoral regulator as well.
