Global democracy has neither advanced nor retreated substantially in the past year, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2012 democracy index, which was published on March 20th. Among the findings of our latest index, now in its fifth edition, are that democratisation prospects in the Arab world remain highly uncertain; that democracy has regressed in much of eastern Europe; and that there is a crisis in popular confidence in politics in the West. In short: it is not easy to build a sturdy democracy, and even long-established democracies are vulnerable to corrosion if not nurtured and protected.
The index provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide for 165 independent states and two territories. As the index only excludes micro states, this covers the vast majority of the world's population. In 2012 the picture was broadly one of stabilisation after a tumultuous couple of years that in different ways both improved prospects for democracy and renewed threats to it. The political upheavals in the Arab world generated optimism that has only partly—and imperfectly—been fulfilled. At the same time the fallout from the global financial crisis that began in 2008, and from the subsequent debt crisis in the euro zone, continues to have a negative impact on politics in supposedly stable democracies in the rich world.
Slightly less than one-half of the world's population lives in a democracy of some sort, although only 11% reside in what we consider "full" democracies. Moreover, some 2.6bn people, more than one-third of the world, still live under authoritarian rule (with a large share being in China). The index uses a scoring system as the basis for its definitions of relative degrees of democracy. Our analysts assign each country scores in five categories: political process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. We then combine these scores to generate an overall score, which places each country within one of four types of regime. Those with the highest scores (8 and above on a scale of 0 to 10) constitute "full democracies". Next are "flawed democracies" (6 to 7.99), followed by "hybrid regimes" (4 to 5.99) with elements of both democracy and authoritarianism, and finally "authoritarian regimes" (below 4). Full story...
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The index provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide for 165 independent states and two territories. As the index only excludes micro states, this covers the vast majority of the world's population. In 2012 the picture was broadly one of stabilisation after a tumultuous couple of years that in different ways both improved prospects for democracy and renewed threats to it. The political upheavals in the Arab world generated optimism that has only partly—and imperfectly—been fulfilled. At the same time the fallout from the global financial crisis that began in 2008, and from the subsequent debt crisis in the euro zone, continues to have a negative impact on politics in supposedly stable democracies in the rich world.
Slightly less than one-half of the world's population lives in a democracy of some sort, although only 11% reside in what we consider "full" democracies. Moreover, some 2.6bn people, more than one-third of the world, still live under authoritarian rule (with a large share being in China). The index uses a scoring system as the basis for its definitions of relative degrees of democracy. Our analysts assign each country scores in five categories: political process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. We then combine these scores to generate an overall score, which places each country within one of four types of regime. Those with the highest scores (8 and above on a scale of 0 to 10) constitute "full democracies". Next are "flawed democracies" (6 to 7.99), followed by "hybrid regimes" (4 to 5.99) with elements of both democracy and authoritarianism, and finally "authoritarian regimes" (below 4). Full story...
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