Comment by joe_mamba

>You can have a functional democracy and still do long term planning

Sure, but that's contingent on

1) the voters being well educated and not easily brainwashed by various types of propaganda pushing them to vote against their own interests (see the Germans being anti-nuclear and pro-Russian gas since the 80s) and >

2) the voters being trusted and having an actual ownership in the country so that their votes affect them directly and also having a say in how their country is run, because if whoever gets voted into power just does the opposite of what the voters want "for their own good", then you're not a democracy anymore, you're just a well functioning state (if that).

Other than Switzerland, and maybe Denmark, I don't know any democracies that constantly function well and aren't plagued with issues.