No, I'm referring to how long a "gov't" has been established. The U.S. Democratic Republic has been est. since ~1776 and, for the most part has been benevolent the entire time. But some countries go through regime changes every 5 years or so. You never know what kind of leader is going to take control and thus, you never know who would have control of said technology. You might have a Mahatma Gandhi type originally but 5 years later, after a bloody coup, you have a Hussein-type. At least here in the U.S. and the other countries I mentioned, the gov't is established, strong, and set up for checks and balances.
Then you have other countries who have had an est. gov't for some time but are led by despotic-type leaders (i.e. Cuba, N. Korea) or have always been extremely unstable (i.e. Russia).
I'm not saying we are the best country in the world, I'm just saying as governmental structures go...we did a pretty good job.