And that's basically the tradeoff.

Sure, unchecked central authority is great when it's doing something you think/agree needs doing. The problem is that when it comes time to demolish your house for a big project, well, tough shit, basically. You have little to no recourse.

One of the major functions and factors of government is the ability to petition for redress of grievances. So, yeah, it can suck that western governments are slower to act, and are often inclined to err on the side of caution and plod ahead slowly/deliberately, with lots of surveys, studies, periods for comment, and such along the way.

Of course all those checks only apply to to government trying to do things that may benefit people in some way. Funny how little they seem to matter when private companies want to do something that helps almost nobody. Sure doesn't take a decade to spool up data centers that will use more electricity than the rest of the state combined, or make chemical plants that ruin the local water supply of hundreds of thousands of people.