Thanx Laye for sharing. These EIU guys got their heads in their arses about Mali. How do they friggin downgrade Mali democracy based on the Tuareg insurgency and "restrictions on media"???? What cave do these people live in?? An insurgency has as much to do with democracy as the reasons for the insurgency and the resolution of insurgent insecurity. As far as media freedom is concerned, I think they ought to get off their fannies and actually travel to these countries instead of relying on second and third hand "infriggintelligence" reports filed by disgruntled mining concerns. What idiots. As far as I'm concerned, The EIU knows as much about democracy as Evian does. Haruna. Thanx again Laye for the forward. MQJGDT. Darbo. They need to remove their heads from where they're buried and really do some work on evaluating democracies. The countries they got right Sweden etc. don't need intelligence reports. I mean my son knows Sweden is the best country on earth. What idiots. Intelligence Reports!!!!!! New people. Anything to sell a magazine. Gaddamit. In a message dated 4/27/2009 12:09:55 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: The Democracy Index and Africa´s Performance Dr. Wolassa L. Kumo April 26, 2009 Introduction The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) published its second ever democracy index in the late 2008. The index measures the democratic status of 167 countries in the world. The organization looked at about 60 indicators of democracy in each country and divided the 167 countries surveyed into four categories: full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes. The 60 indicators of democracy were graded from 1 to 10 while the indicators were spread across five broad areas: electoral process and pluralism; functioning of government; political participation; political culture; and civil liberties. A country with the highest overall score is considered to be the most democratic while that with the least overall score is considered to be the least democratic. The Economist Intelligence Unit´s index is by far the most scientific and the most reliable measure of democratic deepening with in the countries of the world. Democracy in the World: which countries are the most democratic in the word? According to the EIU´s 2008 democracy index, there are only 30 full democracies in the world. Although, the United States is one of the 30 full democracies in the world, it is not the most democratic country.It is not even one of the 15 most democratic countries in the world. According to both the 2006 and the 2008 EIU democracy index, the most democratic country in the world is Sweden. Sweden scored a whopping 9.88 out of 10 for both 2006 and 2008 EIU democracy index. The remaining world´s top fifteen most democratic countries, in order of their rank, are: Norway, Iceland, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Spain. Except Australia and new Zealand, the top fifteen democratic countries in the world are found in western Europe. The top 5 near perfect democracies are the north European social democracies. The more egalitarian social democracies are found to be better democracies than nonegalitarian liberal democracies. The United States, the "world´s democracy watchdog", is itself only 18th full democracy after Japan, the second largest economy in the world, and one of the only two full democracies from the Asian continent, the second being South Korea, the 28th full democracy. The United States scored 7.86 for the "Functioning of government", lower than Mauritius in Africa which scored 8.21. Furthermore, for "Political participation", the United States scored 7.22 at par with South Korea and lower than many other advanced economies. The 30 full democracies are dominated by the OECD member states except a few full democracies from developing regions such as Cost Rica and Uruguay in Latin America; Mauritius in Africa; and the two emerging economies of Eastern Europe, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. Democracy in Africa The EIU democracy survey in 2008 covered 44 countries in Africa. According to the EIU 2008 democracy index, the only full democracy in Africa is Mauritius. Mauritius is the 26th full democracy with the overall score of 8.04 out of 10. Mauritius is one of the African islands, located about 900 kms to the east of Madagascar, in the western Indian Ocean. It has a population of about 1.3 million and the seventh biggest per capita income in the continent, which makes it one of the few middle income economies in the continent. Countries that have qualified for full democracy obtained an average score of 7.96 and above, for the five key democracy indicators of electoral process and pluralism; functioning of government; political participation; political culture; and civil liberties. Countries with the average scores between 7.91 and 6.04 were categorized as flawed democracies. Accordingly, 50 countries in the world were classified as flawed democracies in 2008 by the EIU. Among these, 6 are found in sub Saharan Africa. South Africa, the largest economy in Africa, and the only African member of the G20 countries, slightly missed the full democracy list in 2008 with the average score of 7.91. South Africa´s over all score was affected by lower scores for election process and pluralism, and political culture for which the country scored 8.75 and 6.88 respectively. The April 22, 2009 parliamentary elections in South Africa were largely free and fair and are exemplary to the continent plagued by vote rigging, intimidation of the opposition candidates and post election violence. This will improve South Africa´s image as Africa´s beacon of democracy. Hopefully, during the 2010 review of the EIU democracy index, South Africa will move up the ladder to join today´s 30 full democracies of the world. The other flawed democracies in Africa, in order of highest rank, are: Cape Verde, Botswana, Trinidad and Tobago, Namibia, Lesotho and Benin. Mali was flawed democracy according to the EIU 2006 index but was downgraded in to a hybrid regime in 2008. The reason given by EIU for the downgrading of Mali´s democracy index was the deterioration in civil liberties as the government has restricted media freedoms, while insecurity has increased as a result of insurgency in the north of the country. Most of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa are hybrid regimes and totalitarian regimes. In sub-Saharan Africa, in 2006, there were 13 hybrid regimes and 23 totalitarian regimes while in 2008 there were 15 hybrid regimes and 22 totalitarian regimes. Between 2006 and 2008 democracy in sub-Saharan Africa has at best stagnated if not deteriorated. This has been the general global trend. Since mid 2000´s, globally, democracy has generally stagnated and some analysts believe that the current global economic recession followed the global "democratic recession". In 2006, globally, there were only 30 hybrid regimes but in 2008 there were 36 hybrid regimes. On the other hand, the number of authoritarian regimes decreased from 55 in 2006 to 51 in 2008. Africa´s Hybrid and Authoritarian Regimes In 2008, of the 30 hybrid regimes in the world, 15 are in sub-Saharan Africa while of the 51 authoritarian regimes of the world 22 are found in the African continent both in sub- Saharan and north Africa. The EIU democracy index scores for hybrid regimes range from the high of 5.91 to the low of 4.00. The 15 hybrid regimes in sub-Saharan Africa in order of their rank from high to low are: Mali, Madagascar, Mozambique, Senegal, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Liberia, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Burundi, Gambia and Sierra Leone. The hybrid regimes perform better on the election processes and pluralism because they allow some form of political pluralism and conduct elections. However, these elections are often neither free nor fair. These regimes perform dismally on other indicators of democracy such as political participation, functioning of government, political culture and civil liberties. These regimes share certain features of democratic and authoritarian regimes. These countries need to implement genuine political reforms to improve election processes and political pluralism as well as governance and develop more tolerance to civil rights, in order to improve their democratic credentials. Otherwise they will easily slide back to the authoritarian systems whose features they partly share. The EIU democracy index scores for the authoritarian regimes range from 3.93 to 0.86. The world´s most authoritarian regime is North Korea with the overall score of 0.86 for 2008. The Africa´s Chad is the second most authoritarian regime in the world with the overall score of just 1.52. Other authoritarian regimes in Africa from highest to lowest scores are: Mauritania, Egypt, Morocco, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Comoros, Nigeria, Cameron, Niger, Angola, Algeria, Cote d´Ivoire, Swaziland, Gabon, Tunisia, Congo Brazzaville, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Togo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Libya, Guinea-Bissau, Central African Republic, and Chad. Some authoritarian regimes are the poorest regimes in the continent while others are not. The oil rich Nigeria, Angola, Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Gabon are all middle income economies but are typical kleptocracies. The correlation between democracy and level of economic development (income per capita) is however not clear cut. But obviously most democratic countries are the most developed countries in the world. Gabon´s President Omar Bongo has been in power since 1967, at the age of 31, and is now the world´s longest serving head of republican state (the world's longest serving current Head of State (monarchy) is King Rama IX of Thailand, King since June 9, 1946; followed by Queen Elizabeth II of UK). Other longest serving heads of states and governments in Africa are: Muammar Qaddafi of Libya in power since 1969, Eduardo Dos Santos of Angola, since 1979; Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe since 1980; Hosni Mubarak of Egypt since 1981; Paul Biya of Cameroon since 1982; Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo Brazzaville between 1979-1992 and again since 1997 to date; King Makhosetive Mswati III of Swaziland since 1987 (Swaziland is Africa´s last absolute monarchy); Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia since 1987; and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda since 1986. No wonder that the EIU democracy index puts these countries at the bottom of the world democracy scales. The poorest continent in the world is well known for its longest serving kleptocracies. Concluding Remarks The Economist Intelligence Unit´s index of democracy is by far the most comprehensive measure of democratic deepening with in the countries of the world. The five major democracy indictors, viz., election process and pluralism; functioning of government; political participation; political culture; and civil liberties cut across all key spheres of political processes, governance, and human and democratic rights of citizens. More egalitarian social democracies tended to score higher on the index compared to the nonegalitarian liberal democracies. The world´s top five most democratic states (near perfect democracies) are the north European social democracies. The world´s near perfect democracy is Sweden while the world´s most repressive authoritarian regime is North Korea. Only one African country, Mauritius, is among the 30 full democracies in the world. South Africa misses this list with a very small margin. About 50 countries in the world are imperfect (flawed) democracies. Only 6 African countries are among this group. Most African countries are either hybrid or authoritarian regimes. Half of the world´s hybrid regimes and about forty five percent of totalitarian regimes are found in Africa. Africa is home for the world´s longest serving heads of republican states, although world´s longest serving monarchies are found in Asia and Europe. Although there is no clear cut correlation between the level of development and democracy, most advanced economies are obviously most democratic while most authoritarian regimes preside over the majority poverty stricken citizens. Globally, the recent trend in democratic transformation has been discouraging. The current global economic recession followed what some analysts term as global "democratic recession". Africa´s performance has been worse. With several coups in the continent since 2005, beginning with the Mauritanian military takeover, and post election violence in several other countries including Ethiopia´s 2005 elections, Kenya´s 2007 elections and Zimbabwe´s political nightmare, and the most recent unconstitutional change of government in Madagascar, democracy in the continent is facing serious setbacks. The citizens´ hope to eradicate the current massive poverty in the continent is directly linked to the continents´ ability to carry out sustainable democratic transformation. Undemocratic regimes in other parts of the world were development oriented while African hybrid and authoritarian regimes are fundamentally kleptocracies. The African citizens must break the cycle of silence and subordination to these kleptocracies and drive the democratic transformation in every single country of concern. Reference Economist Intelligence Unit 2006: Index of Democracy 2006 Economist Intelligence Unit 2008: Index of Democracy 2008 ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ **************Access 350+ FREE radio stations anytime from anywhere on the web. Get the Radio Toolbar! 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