The Democracy Index 2020, The Economist
Last edited Sat Feb 13, 2021, 01:39 PM - Edit history (2)
- The Democracy Index 2020, The Economist Intelligence Unit, Wiki Excerpts, Ed.:
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SELECTED COUNTRIES, Category, Rank; *= Flawed Democracy, Hybrid Regime or Authoritarian
- * US: Flawed Democracy, No. 25
- Canada: Full Democracy, No. 5
- Norway: Full Democracy, No. 1
- Iceland: Full Democracy, No. 2
- Sweden: Full Democracy, No. 3
- New Zealand, Full Democracy, No. 4
- Finland: Full Democracy, No. 6
- Denmark, Full Democracy, No. 7
- Ireland, Full Democracy, No. 8
- Australia, Full Democracy, No. 9
- Uruguay, Full Democracy, No. 15
- United Kingdom, Full Democracy, No. 16
- Chile, Full Democracy, No. 17
- Costa Rica, Full Democracy, No. 18
- * France Flawed Democracy, No. 24
- * Brazil, Flawed Democracy, No. 49
- * Poland, Flawed Democracy, No. 50
- * Russia, Authoritarian, No. 124
- * Ukraine, Hybrid Regime, No. 79
- * Turkey, Hybrid Regime, No. 104
- * India, Flawed Democracy, No. 53
- * China, Authoritarian, No. 151
> See more at the Wiki link below...
The Democracy Index is an index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research division of the Economist Group, a UK-based private company which publishes the weekly newspaper The Economist. The index is self-described as intending to measure the state of democracy in 167 countries, of which 166 are sovereign states and 164 are UN member states. The index is based on 60 indicators grouped in 5 different categories, measuring pluralism, civil liberties and political culture. In addition to a numeric score and a ranking, the index categorises each country into one of 4 regime types: full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes. The questions are grouped into 5 categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation, and political culture.. there are a few questions considered so important that a low score on them yields a penalty on the total score sum for their respective categories, namely:
"Whether national elections are free and fair";
"The security of voters";
"The influence of foreign powers on government";
"The capability of the civil servants to implement policies".
Definitions:
- Full democracies are nations where civil liberties and fundamental political freedoms are not only respected but also reinforced by a political culture conducive to the thriving of democratic principles. These nations have a valid system of governmental checks and balances, an independent judiciary whose decisions are enforced, governments that function adequately, and diverse and independent media. These nations have only limited problems in democratic functioning.
- Flawed democracies are nations where elections are fair and free and basic civil liberties are honoured but may have issues (e.g. media freedom infringement and minor suppression of political opposition and critics). These nations have significant faults in other democratic aspects, including underdeveloped political culture, low levels of participation in politics, and issues in the functioning of governance.
- Hybrid regimes are nations with regular electoral frauds, preventing them from being fair and free democracies. These nations commonly have governments that apply pressure on political opposition, non-independent judiciaries, widespread corruption, harassment and pressure placed on the media, anaemic rule of law, and more pronounced faults than flawed democracies in the realms of underdeveloped political culture, low levels of participation in politics, and issues in the functioning of governance.
- Authoritarian regimes are nations where political pluralism is nonexistent or severely limited. These nations are often absolute monarchies or dictatorships, may have some conventional institutions of democracy but with meagre significance, infringements and abuses of civil liberties are commonplace, elections (if they take place) are not fair and free, the media is often state-owned or controlled by groups associated with the ruling regime, the judiciary is not independent, and censorship and suppression of governmental criticism are commonplace...
More, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index
- The Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index map for 2020. Full democracies 9.01–10 8.01–9; Flawed democracies 7.01–8; 6.01–7 Hybrid regimes; 5.01–6 4.01–5 Authoritarian regimes; 3.01–4 2.01–3; 0–2.00 No data. *Color Key in Article Link, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index
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*The Economist, GRAPH, 'Global Democracy Has Had A Very Bad Year,' Feb. 2, 2020,
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/02/02/global-democracy-has-a-very-bad-year
= new reply since forum marked as read
- dropping from 8.22 in 2006, down, down and then 7.92 in 2020 among the Flawed Democracies. Still higher than "Western" countries like Portugal, Italy, Czech Republic, Belgium, Greece and the Baltic states. At place number 25 of 167 countries somehow in the top, but hopefully from this low now rising again, thanks!
