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

[Heraclitus]

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

(You do realize they weren't that interested in those right?)

[bumfister]

I was recently trolling the Nutzis over at Stormfront and was surprised to learn how many of them profess to follow "ancient Germanic" religions such as the old Scandinavian pantheon instead of Christianity because "Jesus was a dirty Jew"! Yes, they're morons for a reason but let's face it... Religion is horse pucky so who really cares?

[bumfister]

(You do realize they weren't that interested in those right?)

Bull****.

[BeBMan]

(You do realize they weren't that interested in those right?)

You have quite active Swiss Women Orgs (and these weren't just some weird feminist fringe groups we know from the 1960ies) demanding it since the 19th century, and increasing support for the idea throughout the whole 20th century, but to get it (before 1971) they needed the majority of male votes (since full citizenship and voting rights for a long time were related to army service, which was long exclusive for men).

[bumfister]

To be fair the Swiss Army is filled with a lot of fags. Hell, they couldn't even defeat the French would spend half their time trying to surrender.

[Heraclitus]

Bull****.

Talking about Swiss women here. I have a hard time imagining the majority being somehow repressed up untill the 1970's. Especially considering how most European women could vote since quite a while before WW2.

[Heraclitus]

You have quite active Swiss Women Orgs (and these weren't just some weird feminist fringe groups we know from the 1960ies) demanding it since the 19th century, and increasing support for the idea throughout the whole 20th century, but to get it (before 1971) they needed the majority of male votes (since full citizenship and voting rights for a long time were related to army service, which was long exclusive for men).

Didn't know that. Why didn't they just change the law so that army was open for women too?


While we had compuslory military serivce over here (up untill the early 2000's) I was always struck by how unfair it was that men and only men had to waste a year of their life in the army.

[BeBMan]

Didn't know that. Why didn't they just change the law so that army was open for women too?

Because for any constitutional changes only the majority amongst men was important, which only changed finally in favour of women's voting rights in 1971.

That said, there *were* also female supporters for the "no" position, but I doubt it's been the majority, esp. not after WWII (when women served not in the army, but in some kind of paramilitary service, and so even conservative women increasingly demanded more rights in return).

[MrFun]

(You do realize they weren't that interested in those right?)

Yes - and in United States, enslaved blacks were not really all that interested in freedom.

The Union forced emancipation on those happy darkies.

[bumfister]

Talking about Swiss women here. I have a hard time imagining the majority being somehow repressed up untill the 1970's.

But that is only because you're retarded.

[bumfister]

While we had compuslory military serivce over here (up untill the early 2000's) I was always struck by how unfair it was that men and only men had to waste a year of their life in the army.

Tha's because the traditional view is that women need to stay home and have babies so there could be more soldiers to fight wars.

[Whoha]

North Korea.

One man one vote indeed.

[OzzyKP]

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.



http://www.aftenposten.no/english/lo...cle1543571.ece

Seems like a reasonable list. I do wonder though what civil liberties were included in the list. I have issues with US civil liberties, but I still believed we compared quite favorably to Europe in many categories. I suppose it just depends on what categories they included. For example, I imagine gun ownership was not considered a civil liberty by the poll makers.

The other stuff about our elections seem appropriate places for us to lose points.

Also, your list is outdated. Here is the top 10 from 2008:

1. Sweden 9.88
2. Norway 9.68
3. Iceland 9.65
3. Netherlands 9.53
5. Denmark 9.52
6. Finland 9.25
7. New Zealand 9.19
8. Switzerland 9.15
9. Luxembourg 9.10
10. Australia 9.09

Germany is 13, Japan is 17, US is 18, UK is 21, and France is 24. Russia is 107, right below Burundi and above Pakistan...

http://graphics.eiu.com/PDF/Democracy%20Index%202008.pdf

Edit: After reading through the actual survey, I think the civil liberties portion is balanced. Doesn't have guns, but I can see how it wouldn't fit in with the rest of the questions. It is mostly about free speech & barriers to political participation. Other categories of civil liberties aren't included. Which I assumed, but I suppose I'm ok with it now.

Cool study regardless.

[Kidlicious]

It (US) may not have been ment to be one (democracy), but its considered to be one today.

If you think so you haven't been paying attention.

[Dr Strangelove]

It doesn't matter. God is great no matter how he did it, if you ask me. I have no problems with evolution, but I'm not convinced it happened just as the evolutionist claim. Neither do I buy the creationists, they are mostly silly. Macro-evolution is not scientifically proven, but it's likely it has some merit. Same for me, really.

"God is great"? Wait, doesn't that translate into Arabic as "Allah Akhbar"?

The truth is out now.