Which country in the world currently has the best functioning liberal democracy?

[Nikolai]

-> Texas

Hehe, no. As I said, I don't like American Christianity.

[Nikolai]

This has nothing to do with Scandinavia. I've mostly been discussing Texas.

And so have I, it seems.

[Kitschum]

Hehe, no. As I said, I don't like American Christianity.

But why? Why are you so attached to Norway? There doesn't seem to be a theological explanation for that.

[Nikolai]

It isn't. I like third-world Christianity better than ours. But as I said, I'm a moderate nationalist. Most Norwegians are actually. I like it here. I belong here.

[Kitschum]

It isn't. I like third-world Christianity better than ours. But as I said, I'm a moderate nationalist. Most Norwegians are actually. I like it here. I belong here.

When you admit you don't even like your "own" practice of Christianity best, then it just sounds like Blut und Boden nationalism that keeps you fettered to those fjords of yours. Do you think your ancestors' spirits dwell in the ground? Are you worshipping Odin and Thor on the side?

[Nikolai]

I like it here.

[Kitschum]

Thorr vigi. I get it. My grandfather believes in gnomes too.

[Nikolai]

Thorr what? Gnomes?

[bumfister]

Bumfistastan has ritual bum fisting to keep everyone happy and in line. Literally in line because that's how you bum fist.

[MrFun]

Bumfistastan has ritual bum fisting to keep everyone happy and in line. Literally in line because that's how you bum fist.

GO AWAY DL!!

[bumfister]

MrFun seems unhappy with the fisting he received.

[onodera]

Most likely it's Switzerland.

[BeBMan]

Denying women voting rights until the early 1970ies, on some lower levels until the 1990ies

[bumfister]

I don't know what all the criteria are which they used to judge but a newspaper says judging on 60 criteria including "free and fair election process, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation and political culture". This results in the following 10 countries being listed as the world's best functioning democracies:

1. Sweden 9,88
2. Iceland 9,71
3. Netherlands 9.66
4. Norway 9,55
5. Denmark 9,52
6. Finland 9,25
7. Luxembourg 9,10
8. Australia 9,09
9. Canada 9.02
10. Switzerland 9.02

The pro-America crowd might notice the U.S. isn't listed and I think this is largely due to the fact that political corruption (caused by all the special interest money which dominates US politics), a lack of respect for civil liberties, and barriers designed to keep 3rd parties out of the political process all combine to make the US a worse democracy.

Norway fourth best democracy
Norway and the Nordic region are very highly ranked by the latest ratings from the Economist Intelligence Unit Index of Democracy.

The Netherlands and the Nordic countries took the top six places in the study, which considers 60 factors divided over five general categories; free and fair election process, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation and political culture.

The study examined the state of democracy in 167 countries, with governments grouped in four categories, ranging from full democracies to authoritarian regimes.

Norway scored top marks of 10 in three categories, 9.64 in functioning government, and lost a higher ranking by only scoring 8.13 in political culture (factors like a lack of apathy and peaceful transfer of power).

The reports singled out the USA (17th) and Britain's (23rd) poor results, partly to blame on measures adopted to fight terrorism.

"The United States and Britain are near the bottom of the full democracy category, but for somewhat different reasons. America falls down on some aspects of governance and civil liberties. Despite low election turnouts, political participation in the United States is comparatively high," the report said.

"In Britain low political participation (the lowest in the developed world) is a major problem, and to a lesser extent, for now, so are eroding civil liberties," the report said.

The lowest scores on the scale of ten were seen in Myanmar (1.77), Togo (1.75), Chad (1.65), Central Africa (1.61) and North Korea (1.03).

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1543571.ece

[Heraclitus]

Are you worshipping Odin and Thor on the side?

THOR SHALL SMITE THE UNBELIVERS!