Danny Bateman Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 US No Longer a Full Democracy, EIU Warns The U.S. has been demoted from a full democracy to a flawed democracy for the first time, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Every year, the firm's Democracy Index provides a snapshot of global democracy by scoring countries on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. Nations are then classified under four types of governments: full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime and authoritarian regime. America's score fell to 7.98 last year from 8.05 in 2015, below the 8.00 threshold for a full democracy, the EIU announced in a report on Wednesday. That put the world's largest economy on the same footing as Italy, a country known for its fractious politics. A flawed democracy is a country with free elections but weighed down by weak governance, an underdeveloped political culture and low levels of political participation, according to the EIU. Other flawed democracies in 2016 included Japan, France, Singapore, South Korea and India, the report said. Link to comment
Scratchtown Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 So is this the people's fault? Obama? Trump? Political correctness? Hell I don't know anything about this stuff. Sounds like a pretty bad thing.... Link to comment
BigRedBuster Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 We never have been a full Democracy. 1 Link to comment
Bigred_inSD Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 The old claimed quote of Franklin " a republic ma'am if you can keep it" I think we've been flawed democracy for a while, 2012 election a lady in front of me got super pissed because she couldn't vote. After phone calls they found out this lady never registered to vote. She had no idea she was supposed to do that. 1 Link to comment
Danny Bateman Posted January 25, 2017 Author Share Posted January 25, 2017 So is this the people's fault? Obama? Trump? Political correctness? Hell I don't know anything about this stuff. Sounds like a pretty bad thing.... Seems like a complex issue with plenty of blame to go around. This line... A flawed democracy is a country with free elections but weighed down by weak governance, an underdeveloped political culture and low levels of political participation, according to the EIU. Other flawed democracies in 2016 included Japan, France, Singapore, South Korea and India, the report said. Unfortunately describes us pretty well. Too much gridlock to govern effectively, people largely aren't into politics and thus a lot of them can't be bothered to vote. Link to comment
Danny Bateman Posted January 25, 2017 Author Share Posted January 25, 2017 The old claimed quote of Franklin " a republic ma'am if you can keep it" I think we've been flawed democracy for a while, 2012 election a lady in front of me got super pissed because she couldn't vote. After phone calls they found out this lady never registered to vote. She had no idea she was supposed to do that. I've long thought our high school government courses (and civic engagement classes in general) leave a lot to be desired. Link to comment
Husker Red Til Dead Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 I could give a damn of what some brit econ group thinks of us, that whole throwing rocks at glass houses saying applies here. BTW the USA is a Constitutional Republic. Link to comment
ZRod Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 So is this the people's fault? Obama? Trump? Political correctness? Hell I don't know anything about this stuff. Sounds like a pretty bad thing.... I'd say it's the people's fault. You have a mostly uninformed public. Just look at what's going on here the past week; people bitching about politics, and then saying they just don't care enough to take time to inform themselves. 1 Link to comment
B.B. Hemingway Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 I'm not sure how a European can be so critical of our democracy, you can only observe so much from a far. So, meh.... For all her flaws, I still love this country. Even with that dipsh*t tangerine as President. 1 Link to comment
Bigred_inSD Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 The old claimed quote of Franklin " a republic ma'am if you can keep it" I think we've been flawed democracy for a while, 2012 election a lady in front of me got super pissed because she couldn't vote. After phone calls they found out this lady never registered to vote. She had no idea she was supposed to do that. I've long thought our high school government courses (and civic engagement classes in general) leave a lot to be desired. Absolutely. I had a very passionate civics and government teacher in high school. He is the main reason in became involved in politics. (Neither of my parents vote). I still remember our tests when we did true/false. If it was false we had to state why. I was one of the lucky kids and I'm forever grateful for Mr. Lefler 1 Link to comment
knapplc Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Unfortunately describes us pretty well. Too much gridlock to govern effectively, people largely aren't into politics and thus a lot of them can't be bothered to vote. People are too lazy to educate themselves and think they're too busy to be bothered to vote. We have lower voter turnout per capita than many African nations. People are engaged in politics - they bitch about the government, they talk about taxes, they say they hate the president, they hate congress, etc. It pervades our daily lives, but when it comes down to it, people won't actually get involved. Why? Lots of reasons, but mainly, personal opinion, it's because the politicians don't want you to vote, and they either make it harder to vote (elections on a Tuesday, lack of polling places, cumbersome registration process) or they make the process so bewildering and exhausting that people just want it all to go away. Politicians don't want you to vote because the more people who vote, the more people they have to convince to vote for them. It's far easier to convince ten people to vote for you than 100, so the fewer people who are actually involved the better for them. None of what is happening is an accident. There are very smart, highly-paid people whose jobs it is to determine how best to run elections so their candidates are put in office. These people helped craft the political climate we have today, and they are actively trying to dissuade you to vote. Whisper campaigns, innuendo in ads, cumbersome processes, social engineering - these are all tools in their arsenal, and they are using them against you, every day. It's the job of the Citizens to fight against that, to vote no matter how much you don't want to, and on top of that to cast an educated vote. That means you have to research the candidates, you have to engage in the process. You have to make your voice heard, because politicians are like toddlers - ignore them for five minutes and you've got marker all over your walls. If you think American politics is F'd up, you're right. But it's YOUR responsibility to fix that. It's YOUR responsibility to demand that these candidates answer tough questions, and it's YOUR responsibility to hold them accountable. 3 Link to comment
zoogs Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 "Democracy" makes no distinction between direct democracy and democratic republics here. You can read what the classifications mean HERE. The downturn appears to come from measures of trust in institutions, voter turnout, curbs on civil liberties. It's unclear how much of a role districting had to play, but I suppose voter suppression along with other things (the NC bathroom bill, for example) would qualify as curbs on civil liberties. Popular sentiment and cynicism are responsible for trust in institutions and turnout. Politicians' overt efforts are responsible for the latter. I'm spotlighting the GOP but I'm sure the expansion of the security state apparatus under Obama gets its own considerable share of the blame. Regarding "European", academic analysis can be performed regardless of country. Methods may be flawed, but they are at least based on empirical measures and not locally-sourced feelings. I do not know much about this EIU measure. Some alternative measures are discussed here; discussed as in one guy names "Polity IV, the Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI), and v-dem". Link to comment
BigRedBuster Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 "Democracy" makes no distinction between direct democracy and democratic republics here. You can read what the classifications mean HERE. The downturn appears to come from measures of trust in institutions, voter turnout, curbs on civil liberties. It's unclear how much of a role districting had to play, but I suppose voter suppression along with other things (the NC bathroom bill, for example) would qualify as curbs on civil liberties. Popular sentiment and cynicism are responsible for trust in institutions and turnout. Politicians' overt efforts are responsible for the latter. I'm spotlighting the GOP but I'm sure the expansion of the security state apparatus under Obama gets its own considerable share of the blame. Regarding "European", academic analysis can be performed regardless of country. Methods may be flawed, but they are at least based on empirical measures and not locally-sourced feelings. I do not know much about this EIU measure. Some alternative measures are discussed here; discussed as in one guy names "Polity IV, the Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI), and v-dem". Well, from that, I would say for the vast majority of our existence we have been a flawed Democracy then. Link to comment
zoogs Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Well, from that, I would say for the vast majority of our existence we have been a flawed Democracy then. I'd agree, and further I think it's useful to always have a goal to strive towards. This particular measure seems to be a little friendly in its definition of "full", though. It grades on a slight curve. The U.S. had already been sitting on their 8.0 threshold, so in a way, clearing it isn't especially newsworthy. Stricter definitions of "full" should have had it lower historically. Link to comment
TGHusker Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 I guess that is why we are still striving for that 'more perfect union'. Link to comment
.thumb.jpg.c05ebdd666d00f48cef33a218d519151.jpg)
Recommended Posts