> Democracies have a messy, difficult to categorise staying power. I hear stories about Kings and Emperors, but nobody talks about the enduring-like-weeds powers that don't have neatly defined figureheads but are hotbeds of prosperity.

Don't look around for long.

United States of America — a truly improbable, impossible country. With so much of s**t going on through its history, any other normal country would've crashed, and burned 20 times over.