According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), for the first time in the history of the country, the United States has been demoted from a full democracy to a flawed democracy.
The firm uses a number of indices to identify how democratic a country is. Such indices are marked on the basis of factors such as electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. The firm does this exercise every year and the Democracy Index of the firm provides a snapshot and the indication of global democracy. Countries that are democratic are scored based on the above mentioned five categories.
After every country under consideration is granted a score on this basis, they are then put into either one of the four categories of democracy as marked by the firm. These four categories are full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime and authoritarian regime.
In 2015 America had a Democratic Index score of 8.05 which has fallen in the year 2016 to 7.98. The threshold mark for being identified as a full democratic country is 8.00 and hence the U.S. has fallen below the identifiable mark of a full democracy. It has been put in the very next category of a flawed democracy. This was announced by the EIU in a report that was published on Wednesday. Now the U.S. is in the same bracket as Italy which is a country that is very well known for the fractious politics practiced there.
When a democratic country has a free and fair election system to choose its governing members but is found to be weighed down by weak governance it is marked as a flawed democracy. Other negative political and social traits for a flawed democracy include issues like the presence of an underdeveloped political culture and low levels of political participation. These are parameters that describe a flawed democracy according to the EIU.
The report also pointed out that Japan, France, Singapore, South Korea and India were among the countries that were described as being flawed democracies for the year 2016.
The report however mentioned that President Donald Trump cannot be held responsible or fingers pointed at him for the downgrading of the nation.
"The U.S. has been teetering on the brink of becoming a flawed democracy for several years, and even if there had been no presidential election in 2016, its score would have slipped below 8.00," the report explained. According to the report, there is dwindling trust among the people of the country in the government, the elected representatives and the political parties and these ar etrhe reasons for the downgrading.
"Trust in political institutions is an essential component of well-functioning democracies. Yet surveys by Pew, Gallup and other polling agencies have confirmed that public confidence in government has slumped to historic lows in the U.S. This has had a corrosive effect on the quality of democracy," the report found.
(Source:www.cnbc.com)
The firm uses a number of indices to identify how democratic a country is. Such indices are marked on the basis of factors such as electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. The firm does this exercise every year and the Democracy Index of the firm provides a snapshot and the indication of global democracy. Countries that are democratic are scored based on the above mentioned five categories.
After every country under consideration is granted a score on this basis, they are then put into either one of the four categories of democracy as marked by the firm. These four categories are full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime and authoritarian regime.
In 2015 America had a Democratic Index score of 8.05 which has fallen in the year 2016 to 7.98. The threshold mark for being identified as a full democratic country is 8.00 and hence the U.S. has fallen below the identifiable mark of a full democracy. It has been put in the very next category of a flawed democracy. This was announced by the EIU in a report that was published on Wednesday. Now the U.S. is in the same bracket as Italy which is a country that is very well known for the fractious politics practiced there.
When a democratic country has a free and fair election system to choose its governing members but is found to be weighed down by weak governance it is marked as a flawed democracy. Other negative political and social traits for a flawed democracy include issues like the presence of an underdeveloped political culture and low levels of political participation. These are parameters that describe a flawed democracy according to the EIU.
The report also pointed out that Japan, France, Singapore, South Korea and India were among the countries that were described as being flawed democracies for the year 2016.
The report however mentioned that President Donald Trump cannot be held responsible or fingers pointed at him for the downgrading of the nation.
"The U.S. has been teetering on the brink of becoming a flawed democracy for several years, and even if there had been no presidential election in 2016, its score would have slipped below 8.00," the report explained. According to the report, there is dwindling trust among the people of the country in the government, the elected representatives and the political parties and these ar etrhe reasons for the downgrading.
"Trust in political institutions is an essential component of well-functioning democracies. Yet surveys by Pew, Gallup and other polling agencies have confirmed that public confidence in government has slumped to historic lows in the U.S. This has had a corrosive effect on the quality of democracy," the report found.
(Source:www.cnbc.com)
