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

[Norbert Bollow]

Paul Lehto <lehto.paul at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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.

I agree that the "Democracy Index" is totally unsuitable for purposes
of protecting democracy, or for correcting the non-democratic aspects
of the governance systems that we have today.

That however does not make it worthless for the purpose for which it
was quoted in the recent discussion (to look for correlations with how
democratic countries are) or for the purpose for which it is being
marketed (to help international businesses with assessing business risks
that are related to lack of democracy).

Greetings,
Norbert

-------------- next part --------------
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.igcaucus.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.igcaucus.org/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t