Sweden Is Top Democracy; Italy `Flawed,' Study Shows

[Strengthandhonour]

Sweden Is Top Democracy; Italy `Flawed,' Study Shows

By Alex Morales
Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Sweden is the world's most democratic state while Italy, a member of the Group of Seven industrialized nations, ranks as a ``flawed'' democracy and fails to make the top category of countries, the Economist said.
Countries are split into four regime types determined by their democratic credentials, according to a list published in the Economist's ``The World In 2007'' report. The classifications are: full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes. The U.S., at 17th, and the U.K., at 23rd, ranked in the bottom half of the full democracies.
``A decline in civil liberties and malfunctioning of government accounts for the U.S. position,'' the Economist said in an e-mail late yesterday, citing an erosion of freedom associated with the campaign against terrorism. ``In the U.K., a shocking decline in political participation, alongside some erosion of civil liberties, is the main reason for the comparatively modest ranking.''
The Economist Intelligence Unit awarded 167 countries and territories marks from 1 to 10 for 60 indicators across five broad categories: electoral process, functioning of government, political participation, political culture and civil liberties.
The top level, full democracies, comprises 28 countries and is dominated by members of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Sweden beats Iceland and the Netherlands for first place, while France is ranked lower than the U.K., at 24th. Italy, at 34th, doesn't make the top level, falling among the ``flawed democracies.''
France, Italy
``The rating for France is also comparatively low as a result of modest scores for the functioning of government, political participation and political culture,'' the Economist said. ``Italy performs even worse, and falls in the flawed democracies category -- as a result of problems in functioning of government and the electoral process, as well as weaknesses in the political culture.''
Italy fell down in the ``functioning of government'' and ``political participation'' categories, scoring 6.43 and 6.11.
``Politics in Italy, especially at the regional and local level, is conducted by corrupted practices and dodgy dealings,'' Jose Garcia-Zarate, a London-based fixed-income strategist at 4Cast Ltd., who used to live in Italy, said in a telephone interview. ``In Italy, there's not a direct connection between what citizens want and what politicians actually do.''
Two Latin American nations, Costa Rica and Uruguay, made the top category, as did the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius. Other countries ranked as ``flawed'' included Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Israel and the world's largest democracy, India.
Iraq Score
Countries including Lebanon, 85th, Russia, 102nd, and Iraq, 112th, fall in the third class of democracies, hybrid regimes.
Iraq scores zero in the functioning government category, a distinction shared only with Afghanistan and Chad. Iraq's score for political participation is higher than Britain's and level with Japan's. The Palestinian Authority, also classed as a flawed democracy, ties for seventh place with Israel and eight other nations for political participation.
North Korea props up the table in 167th, just behind the Central African Republic, Chad, Togo and Myanmar, which, along with most Middle Eastern nations, fall in the bottom group of countries, authoritarian regimes.
The following is a table of the five most democratic nations according to the Economist's annual ranking, and selected other nations, along with their scores (from 1 to 10):
Ranking Table


Rank Country Score1. Sweden 9.882. Iceland 9.713. Netherlands 9.664. Norway 9.555. Denmark 9.5216. Spain 8.3417. U.S. 8.2220= Japan 8.1523. U.K. 8.0824. France 8.0729. South Africa 7.9134. Italy 7.7335. India 7.6842. Brazil 7.38102. Russia 5.02112. Iraq 4.01138. China 2.97167. North Korea 1.03
source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aBiPYoCZ96MU

[Señor Malo]

Originally Posted by Strengthandhonour

Iraq's score for political participation is higher than Britain's and level with Japan's.

hmm...I am curious to know what are their sorting criteria

[Strengthandhonour]

Yeah I tried to figure it out myself. But if indeed the fact that Iraqis are more willing to vote than Britain and the Japanese, it's a sad thing to contemplate.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Strengthandhonour

Rank Country Score1. Sweden 9.882. Iceland 9.713. Netherlands 9.664. Norway 9.555. Denmark 9.5216. Spain 8.3417. U.S. 8.2220= Japan 8.1523. U.K. 8.0824. France 8.0729. South Africa 7.9134. Italy 7.7335. India 7.6842. Brazil 7.38102. Russia 5.02112. Iraq 4.01138. China 2.97167. North Korea 1.03

Even I could be more democratic than many of the high scorers there.

Ok, but only as a test and for a couple of days

[Menydh]

This Swedish article has some critical view on the report.

[Señor Malo]

Originally Posted by Strengthandhonour

Yeah I tried to figure it out myself. But if indeed the fact that Iraqis are more willing to vote than Britain and the Japanese, it's a sad thing to contemplate

You mark a good point there yet, what worries me the most is WHO are the Iraqis willing to vote

Originally Posted by Mynydd

Even I could be more democratic than many of the high scorers there.

Ok, but only as a test and for a couple of days

Well, I think reality is not much far from what you say as it is only during elections that people shows how "democratic" they are ... more or less like some people who are patriots only when their national team is about to play a football match

[Saunion]

Rating democracy? That's laughable. All democracies are fundamentally flawed.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by searcher of truth

Well, I think reality is not much far from what you say as it is only during elections that people shows how "democratic" they are ... more or less like some people who are patriots only when their national team is about to play a football match

The levels of Democracy maturity in a country are often measured by analysts in terms of electoral turn-out. Which coincidentially happens to be usually low in most of the so-called Democratic countries.

Another detail to notice here is that the turn-out is higher in by-elections (local elections) than it is in general (country-wide) elections. When it comes to the elections for the Euro-parliament, the turn-out falls even deeper.