Colombia climbs to the ranks of the most polarized countries in the world

Faith in the global economic system is going through bad times.

Such a statement is possible after reading the results of the most recent confidence barometer from the consulting firm Edelman, one of the most recognized in the world, which was presented today at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum held in Davos (Switzerland). .

It would suffice to mention that, in 24 of the 28 countries surveyed, citizens consider that the standard of living of their families will be worse in the course of the next five years.

The results of the report, entitled "Navigating in a polarized world", also reveal that Colombia is one of the places where economic disaffection wreaks the most havoc: the drop in optimism in just one year is 22 points.

This factor leads to citizens feeling more unprotected in the social sphere, more distrustful of democracy and with greater fears for the future.

With all this, Colombia is one of the six states that Edelman places in the "highly polarized" band, along with Argentina, the United States, Spain, Sweden and South Africa.

The consultant places them there because a high percentage feels that there are great divisions that are difficult to overcome.

After Argentina, Colombia is the second country in which those surveyed feel a greater internal division, although the results for the question about the difficulty of overcoming that division are not so negative.

It is likely that the labor damage left by the pandemic, generalized inflation and the anxiety caused by the war in Ukraine, are three of the central pieces to approach the events.

This is the only way to understand the fact that 53% of people today perceive a more divided political scene, or that 62% consider that the social fabric, and the agreements that worked for years as glue for cohesion, or the search for common good, are perceived as insufficient.

The report also warns that the crisis is potentially dangerous for the health of democracies, where the contraction in the levels of civility, mutual respect and conviction that progress and a peaceful life are possible for those who comply the rules of the game or is capable of settling differences through respect.

Edelman's work also underscores the deepening, to historical levels, of the social gulf between rich and poor as an element underlying the evident cracking of the social contract.

In this sense, the two countries with the most pronounced drop, compared to the past measurement, in the section of trust based on income level, are two governments that often fall into the temptations of authoritarianism: China and the United Arab Emirates , with 15 and 9 points difference.

In the same way, among the new elements that the consultancy underlines, is the fact that at a global level, companies are considered the institution with the best credibility indices in terms of ethics and sufficiency (62%), while the Faith in governments plummets in 16 of the 28 countries surveyed (51%).

It is clear that the results are marked by paradoxes.

In the Colombian case, for example, the discredit into which the governments have fallen is clear (-8 points) but, despite the climate of discontent expressed in the great social mobilizations of the last three years, the country rises three points with compared to the results of 2022 in the general index.

Colombia leaves the perimeter of the red zone of total mistrust where it was last year, and is located between countries like France and Canada within a middle segment differentiated in green and labeled "neutral".

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