The Economist has published a “Democracy Index”, which considers the relative level of democracy in the governance of all the countries in the world along five crtieria: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture.
They conclude that there are 28 “full democracies” in the world today, and the most democratic country by their measure is Sweden, with an index of 9.88 on a scale of 0-10. (Full report in PDF format)
The United States ranks 17th, in between Spain and the Czech Republic. But, hey, we still beat the U.K. (#23) and France (#24). And that’s better than our ranking on that other linchpin of American liberty, freedom of the press. Our press freedom ranking is #22, where we’re tied with Belgium, right after that bastion of freedom, Bosnia.
What a country!
