MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay, only “full democracy” in Latinamerica

Almost half the countries in the world can be classified as democratic but only 28 “full democracies”, which are mostly developed nations with the exception of Uruguay and Costa Rica from Latinamerica according to the latest report from The Economist.

In "The World in 2007", the British weekly magazine analyzed the level of democracy in 167 countries with the five categories; electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties, maximum of 10 points per each category.

The Economist, based on its analysis, classified the countries into four stages of democracy; full democracy, 28 countries; flawed democracy, 54; hybrid democracy, 30; and authoritarian regime, 55.

Although the recent wave of worldwide democratization, only 13% of the world population is considered to be living in ?full democracy,' whereas 40% of them are still under authoritarian regime.

Sweden is the most democratic country, according to the research, with 9.88 average score. Ireland, 9.71 points, the Netherlands, 9.66, and Norway, 9.55 follow the Scandinavian kingdom. The US is ranked 17th while Japan is 20th and the United Kingdom 23rd.

Average democratic index in each continent is; 8.64 in North America, 8.60 in Western Europe, 6.37 in Latin America, 5.76 in Eastern Europe, and Middle East and North Africa (3.53) and Sub-Saharan Africa (4.24) at the bottom.

North Korea received average score of 1.03 out of 10 and the 167th out of 167 in the ranking. Not surprisingly, NK received no point at all in civil liberties category.

South Korea did a fare job; it is ranked as the 31st democratic country among 167 with a ?flawed democracy.'

Spain is ranked 16, behind Malta and ahead of United States; Portugal is in position 19, Japan and Belgium rank 20 and France 24, followed by Costa Rica, Mauritius Island, Slovenia and Uruguay sharing position 27.

The report points out that United States has suffered "a serious erosion of civil liberties" in the context of the war on terrorism and something similar has happened in the UK with a significant declination in political participation.

Among the top ten of the group of "flawed democracies" figures Italy, followed by India, Botswana, South Africa and Chile.

Other Latinamerican and Caribbean countries in the group include Brazil, 32; Panama, 44; Jamaica, 45; Trinidad Tobago, 48; Mexico, 53; Argentina, 54; Colombia, 67; Paraguay, 71; Guyana, 73; Peru, 75 and Bolivia, 81.

The "flawed" group also mentions new EU members or candidates such as Slovakia; Poland; Bulgaria; Romania and others such as Israel, 47; Philippines and Indonesia.

Turkey, 88; Nicaragua, 89; Ecuador, 92; Venezuela, 93; Russia, 102; Haiti, 109, and Iraq, figure in the "hybrid" group.

Finally the authoritarian regimes has as full members, Cuba, 124; Pakistan, 113; Jordan, 113; Morocco and Egypt, 115; Iran, 139; Saudi Arabia, 159 and China 138.