Most notable is their Democracy Index,
a 0–10 scale based on 60 indicators across five categories...
electoral process, government function,
political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.
These indicators classify nations into four
regime types...
full
democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime, or authoritarian regime.
According to their 2024 Democracy Index,
there are 24 "full democracies" in the world, which are recognized
for their high levels of political freedom, civil liberties, and functional
governance. They are, in order...
Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Iceland, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Australia, Germany, Canada, Taiwan, Uruguay, Japan, United
Kingdom, Costa Rica, Austria, Mauritius, Estonia, Portugal, Greece, Spain.
Some key (surprise?) observations they make
are...
Monarchies:
Roughly half of these 24 "full democracies" are constitutional
monarchies, including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium,
Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
Regional
Dominance: Western Europe holds the highest concentration of full democracies,
with the Nordic countries consistently occupying the top spots.
Excluded
Countries: Notably, the United States is often categorized as a "flawed
democracy" (ranking 28th in 2024) rather than a full democracy due to
issues with political polarization and governance. France was downgraded to a
flawed democracy in the 2024 report.
Stable
vs. New: Most of the 24 countries have been stable democracies since World War
II, though Greece, Portugal, and Spain only joined this group in the mid-1970s.
Also of note, of those 24...
...these
are unicameral (do not have an upper house)...
New Zealand (since 1951)
Sweden (since 1971)
Denmark (since 1953)
Finland (since 1906)
Iceland
Norway (since 2009)
...the
UK is the only one to have a hereditary upper house,
...only
3 have compulsory voting - Luxembourg, Australia, Uruguay.
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