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In most years, most countries improve in various ways. However, in 2020, premature death and economic downturn became the new normal, with most countries only aspiring to avoid the worst. Inevitably our list of the most improved countries includes some that simply avoided going too far back.
Few people would say that life in New Zealand it was better in 2020 than in 2019. But the virus has been contained. When only 100 cases had been detected, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern closed the borders, locked up the country and urged her “team of five million” (that is, the entire population) to be kind to each other.
ROBERT KITCHEN / Things
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the Post Cabinet’s last press conference of the year at the Beehive Theatrette.
Only 25 kiwis have died and life has more or less returned to normal. Rugby stadiums ended the season packed with fans. The kind Ardern was re-elected with a majority in a country where such things are almost unheard of.
Taiwan it has done even better, with just seven deaths and a much stronger economic performance. Let’s put aside whether Taiwan is a country or simply a competitor for the “de facto autonomous territory of the year.” He kept the virus at bay without closing schools, stores or restaurants, much less imposing closures. Its economy is one of the few that is expected to have grown in 2020.
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He also showed courage, refusing to back down despite relentless threats from Beijing. The Chinese government often says that Taiwan must rejoin the mainland. It has been sending warships and fighter jets closer and closer to the island, with increasing frequency. However, in January, Taiwanese voters rejected a presidential candidate who favored warmer ties with China and re-elected Tsai Ing-wen, whose government has been protecting Hong Kong democracy activists. Taiwan is a constant reminder that Chinese culture is perfectly compatible with liberal democracy.
These achievements are impressive. However, the pandemic is not over yet and to judge a country by its history of fighting Covid is to focus on specific forms of good governance when geographic circumstances and genes make comparisons difficult. Being an island helps. Some populations may have immunity to coronaviruses. This is why other candidates are worth considering.
Chiang Ying-ying / AP
Taiwanese voters rejected a presidential candidate who favored warmer ties with China and reelected President Tsai Ing-wen.
the U.S It did almost as badly as Great Britain, Italy and Spain in its response to Covid-19, but its Operation Warp Speed was instrumental in achieving a vaccine in record time. And by rejecting US President Donald Trump in November, American voters did their part to curb the spread of populism, another global scourge. Trump’s efforts to override the will of those voters were unprecedented for a sitting president, but the justices he appointed were loyal to the law, not the man who elected them.
Voters in Boliviait also restored a measure of normalcy. After an election riddled with fraud, the overthrow of a socialist president, violent protests, and the vengeful and incompetent government of an interim president, the Andean nation held a new peaceful vote in October and elected a technocrat, Luis Arce.
But this year’s award goes to a country in southern Africa. Democracy and respect for human rights declined in 80 countries between the start of the pandemic and September, acknowledges Freedom House, a group of experts. The only place they got better was Malawi.
To appreciate your progress, consider what came before. In 2012 a president died, his death was covered up and his body was transferred to South Africa for “medical treatment”, to buy time so that his brother could take over. That brother, Peter Mutharika, was unable to take power at the time, but was elected two years later and ran for re-election. The vote count was manipulated with correction fluid in the minutes. Foreign observers cynically approved of it anyway. Malawians launched massive protests against the “Tipp-Ex election”. The Malawian judges rejected bribery bags and canceled it. A re-run of the fair in June ousted Mutharika and installed the people’s choice, Lazarus Chakwera. Malawi is still poor, but its people are citizens, not subjects. For reviving democracy in an authoritarian region, it is our country of the year.
© 2020 The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist published under license. The original article can be found at www.economist.com
