[governance] Re: democracy (was Re: NY article expresses surprise at US walkout in Dubai)

[Paul Lehto]

Because democracy is highly believed in around the world, and because the
powers that be wish to maintain their freedom of action to pursue their
self interest, the powers that be will support a Democracy Index approach
that avoids definitional tests.

In this way, and even in the worst case scenario, actions taken by the
powers that be can only degrade the Democracy Index incrementally but can
not destroy democracy, leaving the powers that be almost totally free to do
whatever they like in terms of tinkering with systems and rights.

Paul Lehto, J.D.

On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 2:55 AM, Norbert Bollow <nb at bollow.ch> wrote:

> Paul Lehto <lehto.paul at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > A real measure of democracy would have to have core measurements that
> > have clear cut failing points at which the country as a whole fails
> > to be democratic.
>
> Azerbaijan, Germany, Kenya, Switzerland and the U.S.A. (listed in
> alphabetic order) would in my opinion all fail any reasonable such test
> of the "country as a whole" being democratic. (I think that probably
> every country in the world could be added to this list, but I wanted to
> list only countries about which I know enough that I can defend my
> assertion if someone challenges it.)
>
> But some of these failures are worse (or in the case of Azerbaijan, very
> much worse) than others.
>
> I would suggest that that "Democracy Index" gives an indication of how
> bad the failures are in the various countries.
>
> Greetings,
> Norbert
>



-- 
Paul R Lehto, J.D.
P.O. Box 1
Ishpeming, MI  49849
lehto.paul at gmail.com
906-204-4965 (cell)
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