Europe

It's really sad that people still look at liberal democracies and think, yup this is a well functioning system. Free and fair elections don't happen in liberal democracies (notice how it's the same people and organizations calling western elections free and fair and election elsewhere rigged when they don't like the outcome). There is no direct contact between the people and representatives beyond maybe the city/county level.

The rights of capital and private property trump everything else, because capital and private property are in control of the institutions of power. The only reason we have any rights beyond the right to die when we're unable to work is precisely due to protest movements forcing capital and politicians to make small compromises in order to maintain their balance of power.

Thinking that liberal democracy functions well for all and is the peak of political development is just another facet of the capitalist propaganda we of the imperial core are immersed in from birth. Thinking that protests are only a small but ultimately inconsequential part of the political process is a further facet of this propaganda.