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Lars77

(3,032 posts)
Thu Dec 22, 2011, 09:02 PM Dec 2011

2011 Democracy Index: Only 11% of people live in "Full Democracies".

http://www.eiu.com//public/topical_report.aspx?campaignid=DemocracyIndex2011

This is down from 12% last year. A lot of countries in Europe have been slipping.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File emocracy_Index_2011.png

10 is the best score. The United States scored 8.11 and is in 19th position behind the Czech Republic, Malta and Uruguay amongst others.

Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Israel, and many others have status as "Flawed democracies".

DPRK are worst with a score of 1.08.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index#2011_rankings

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2011 Democracy Index: Only 11% of people live in "Full Democracies". (Original Post) Lars77 Dec 2011 OP
I'm amazed my own UK ranks higher Prophet 451 Dec 2011 #1
Norway, Sweden, Denmark are also constitutional monarchies Lars77 Dec 2011 #2
Our monarchy is in much the same way Prophet 451 Dec 2011 #3
Given the number of stolen elections..... izquierdista Dec 2011 #4
Their dividing lines between categories are arbitrary, though muriel_volestrangler Dec 2011 #5

Prophet 451

(9,796 posts)
1. I'm amazed my own UK ranks higher
Thu Dec 22, 2011, 09:06 PM
Dec 2011

Granted, it's only one place but I'm surprised our constitutional monarchy didn't count against us.

Lars77

(3,032 posts)
2. Norway, Sweden, Denmark are also constitutional monarchies
Thu Dec 22, 2011, 09:12 PM
Dec 2011

It does not really matter much, as the Royals in Scandinavia are mere figureheads. The King of Norway does have the power to veto anything passed by parliament, but everyone knows that if he tried that we would be a Republic within days. In fact, a majority in the Norwegian parliament supports going Republic if it ever became a real issue, which it is not.

The House of Lords in the UK is definately problematic in this sense.

Prophet 451

(9,796 posts)
3. Our monarchy is in much the same way
Thu Dec 22, 2011, 09:16 PM
Dec 2011

Technically, the monarch has veto power but if they ever excercised it, it'd cause a constitutional crisis that would end the monarchy (the monarchy has a slight edge in public support here).

Agreed that the mess in the HoL urgently needs resolving.

 

izquierdista

(11,689 posts)
4. Given the number of stolen elections.....
Thu Dec 22, 2011, 10:29 PM
Dec 2011

I would put the U.S. on a par with Mexico. And I'm sure Presidents Gore and Lopez Obrador would agree with me.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,149 posts)
5. Their dividing lines between categories are arbitrary, though
Thu Dec 22, 2011, 10:53 PM
Dec 2011

just when a score passes an integer number. It's hard to see exactly what makes them call France a 'flawed' democracy, while the UK is 'full', according to their list.

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