10/15/2002: Freedom map

[Undertoad]

I'm a big fan of maps, and an even bigger fan of freedom, so I found this map of great interest. Developed by Freedom House, a group that promotes freedom and Democracy throughout the world.

I think their definition of freedom is weighted towards consent of the governed, which is a great way to define it.

The trend is towards more freedom. In 1991, there were 76 elected Democracies; in 2001, there were 120. In 1991, there were 65 countries listed as "free". In 2001, there were 86.

The image comes from this PDF, found on the Freedom House site.

[Beletseri]

So what is partly free?

[perth]

from the pdf file itself, my emphasis:

The Map of Freedom reflects the findings of Freedom House's 2000-
2001 survey Freedom in the World. Freedom in the World is an annual
institutional effort that monitors the gains and losses for political rights
and civil liberties in 192 nations and 17 related and disputed territories.
For each country, the survey provides a concise report on political and
human rights developments, along with ratings of political rights and civil
liberties. Based on these ratings, countries are divided into three categories:
Free, Partly Free, and Not Free, as reflected in the Map of Freedom.
In Free countries citizens enjoy a high degree of political and civil
freedom. Partly Free countries are characterized by some restrictions on
political rights and civil liberties, often in a context of corruption, weak
rule of law, ethnic strife or civil war. In Not Free countries, the political
process is tightly controlled and basic freedoms are denied.

i tried to find more detailed info on what the ratings are and how they work, but didnt find anything. perhaps someone else will have more success? im also interested in how free and partly free are defined.

~james

[perth]

I'm a big fan of maps,

me too. ive posted it before in another thread, but here i go again:

http://www.library.yale.edu/MapColl/online.html

lots of olde-tyme maps. if only they were higher-res i would be in heaven.

~james

[Xugumad]

... America?

X.

[smed]

hehehehe......this is funny as shit.
Talk about viewing the world through Rose colored glasses.....
Oh well.....at least I'm here.

[tokenidiot]

America is NOT exclusively the United States.

[xant]

Originally posted by tokenidiot
America is NOT exclusively the United States.

I think you may have missed the point.

[tokenidiot]

No, I got the point of that picture several years ago.
And before someone claims that I'm offended because I'm America, I'm not. I'm not American, nor offended. I was just trying to be helpful.

[goethean]

On the original map, I think florida's the wrong color.

[Big Fat Dynamo]

The original map is almost as funny as the "according to US" map. At first I thought it was a parody, but now I see it is a shining example of how simple everything has to be for our citizens to pay attention to. Our attention spans are so short and our desire for comfort is so powerful that we don't even notice our freedom color slowly but surely shifting from yellow to green.

[chrisinhouston]

It is interesting that the majority of the countries listed as not free or partly free are in the area where historians and anthropologists credit as being the cradle of modern civilization; that is, they have the longest track record at forming and deposing governments.

Also of note is that most of them were heavily controlled by the 19th and 20th century colonial powers.

While we in the western world like to profess our belief in freedom and democracy for all nations, the very fact that these countries are not free can be related to the actions of the USA, UK, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium and a few others.

[xant]

Originally posted by chrisinhouston
fact that these countries are not free can be related to the actions of the USA, UK, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium and a few others.

You mean oppressed nations like India, Mexico, Canada, and Australia?

The fact that the blue countries are not free has to do with their own cultures and histories, and nothing else. Each of the 4 countries I mentioned above were imperial property at one point (like, I must add, the United States itself). They made themselves free one way or another. The majority of not-free countries were never European annexes.

And in the end, it doesn't matter what the cause is. If those people don't take responsibility for freeing themselves, nobody else will.

[chrisinhouston]

While I'll agree that there are those nations that have empowered themselves towards freedom I hardly think you can't hold the white men of the USA and western Europe responsible for the last hundred years of subjugation of half the world. Whether we ran the countries as colonies or set up puppet governments doesn't really matter. It was done and it is still going on. Gee, we don't like a goverment? Let's get rid of them and put someone in there we do like.

It's just a big shell game.

[Count Zero]

Hey, I'm "partly free"....

It's funny, since the military dictatorship ended here in Brazil in the end of the seventies, we've had 2 directly elected presidents: one was reelected and the other was impeached. A third one, who would be the first elected died after the elections.

Anyway, it's more democratic than in the USA, where unelected presidents get elected.