Indexes are a popular fad of 'serious' magazines. The Economist has published a 'democracy index' for the past couple of years. In its latest version, the U.S. does not fare very well (at least in my opinion); it ranks 18th. Sweden ranks #1, the other Northern European countries occupy the next five slots.
The index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. Our rank was reduced because of poor scores in civil liberties and the electoral process.
While one can use the index to compare individual countries, the Economist concludes that the spread of democracy has halted. And, they place a fair amount of the blame? You guessed it - Mr. Bush and Iraq.
1 comment:
And falling fast.
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