These posts acknowledge and celebrate what hitherto had been unimaginable advances of the global socio-economy.  This post notes that at the most granular level the economy is comprised of three economic agents and Government. As economic agent, became more representative of the global citizenry over the last thousand tears.  Firms maximize profits, Household maximize well-being, and Governments optimize their sustainability. Government sustains selves by consolidating support of their constituencies.

At the most granular level, every economy is composed of three core agents: firms, which maximize profits; households, which maximize well-being; and governments, which seek to optimize their sustainability. Governments sustain themselves by consolidating the support of their constituencies, and over time, the nature of that support has profoundly evolved.

Contemporary Western liberal democracies have been shaped over nearly a thousand years of political development. The United Kingdom offers a striking example of this evolution. In 1215, the Magna Carta granted rights to just 25 surety barons, establishing the first limits on monarchical authority. By 1430, voting rights extended only to men who owned property worth at least 40 shillings a year—fewer than 3 percent of the population. When Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations in 1776, the franchise remained tightly restricted to this small, privileged group.

Throughout the 19th century, voting rights broadened incrementally—to about 8 percent of adult males in 1832, 16 percent in 1867, and nearly 30 percent by 1885. Women were excluded, and even men’s rights remained subject to property and income qualifications.

After the First World War, a democratic breakthrough occurred: the vote was extended to nearly all adult men and women, transforming political representation. In Canada, two further steps completed this process—the extension of suffrage to non-European racial groups in 1948 and to Status First Nations peoples in 1960. By mid-century, the household sector, whose primary objective is maximizing well-being, had become the cornerstone of government legitimacy.

This long trajectory—from the 25 barons of the Magna Carta to the universal suffrage of the modern era—marks one of humanity’s greatest political triumphs: the emergence of governments whose sustainability depends on advancing the well-being of their entire adult population.

Yet, this achievement remains exceptional. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index (2024), only 25 of the 167 countries evaluated qualify as Full Democracies, encompassing a mere 6.6% of the world’s population. The majority live under Flawed Democracies (38.4%), Hybrid Regimes (15.7%), or Authoritarian Regimes (39.2%).

Governments everywhere are major participants in the global economy, but only a small minority have evolved to where their economic and political objectives align with the collective well-being of their citizens. In many states, other forces—financial, political, or personal—divert public resources toward narrow interests. The creation of opportunities to extract rents through regulation or control of markets is one such distortion.

Conclusion

The progression from the Magna Carta’s handful of barons to today’s universal franchise represents a monumental advance in human governance. In some nations, governments now truly reflect the interests and well-being of their adult citizens—an extraordinary triumph of institutional evolution and collective self-determination.

However, this democratic achievement remains fragile and rare. The vast majority of governments still operate under systems where the alignment between state sustainability and citizen welfare is incomplete or absent.

As an economic agent, government continues to balance two enduring imperatives: sustaining itself and sustaining its people. Where these goals converge, democracy flourishes and societies prosper. Where they diverge, sustainability is achieved through mechanisms that may preserve power—but not necessarily promote human well-being.