The United States—often hailed as the ‘oldest democracy in the world’ and the ‘leader of the free world’—has fallen on hard times. In addition to recent headline-grabbing political events that have highlighted its political dysfunction, data from the 2022 Berggruen Governance Index (BGI) reveal that overall state capacity and democratic accountability have been declining for years. Although public goods provision has remained on a steady course, the US still trails much of the developed world. We find this struggling performance is largely the result of neglecting three types of infrastructure: civic, physical and social. Specifically, we argue that the crisis became particularly pronounced due to an insufficient response to the 2008 global financial crisis. Although some recent political achievements could slow the decline, more drastic action will be required to reverse these troubling trends.

中文翻译：

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一颗流星？美国国家能力和民主责任下降的根源

美国——经常被誉为“世界上最古老的民主国家”和“自由世界的领导者”——已经陷入了困境。除了最近引人注目的政治事件凸显其政治功能失调外，2022 年伯格鲁恩治理指数 (BGI) 的数据显示，整体国家能力和民主问责制多年来一直在下降。尽管公共产品供给保持稳定，但美国仍落后于许多发达国家。我们发现这种表现不佳很大程度上是由于忽视了三种类型的基础设施：公民基础设施、物质基础设施和社会基础设施。具体来说，我们认为，由于对2008年全球金融危机的应对不力，这场危机变得尤为突出。尽管最近的一些政治成就可能会减缓衰退，但需要采取更严厉的行动来扭转这些令人不安的趋势。