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Picking up from last month’s article, we’re going to take a closer look at the questions used by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to produce its annual Democracy Index.
According to the latest report published in February 2021, only 23 countries were rated as full democracies with the top 10 being Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Australia – Germany being in 14th place and the United Kingdom in 16th place.
Fifty-two countries were classified as flawed democracies including France, the United States, Portugal, South Africa, Israel, Greece, Cyprus, Italy and Singapore.
Microstates with populations under 500,000 are not included in the Democracy Index so we thought it would be interesting to consider how people living in Jersey would rate Jersey’s democracy. Just a bit of background about the methodology first.
The index rating is based on an assessment of 60 indicators that probe five key categories. Each of the five categories are weighted equally. The scores are assigned by EIU experts and, where available, information gathered from public-opinion surveys and other national surveys.
The simple average across the five categories will generate the final index score. The five categories and questions in each are set out below. The EIU requires a yes/no answer for most questions although some have an “in between” option. Some of the terms used don’t align exactly with Jersey’s status as a Crown dependency and we’ll address that later.
Electoral process and pluralism
Are elections for the national legislature and head of government free?
Are elections for the national legislature and head of government fair?
Are municipal elections both free and fair?
Is there universal suffrage for all adults?
Can citizens cast their vote free of significant threats to their security from state or non-state bodies?
Do laws provide for broadly equal campaigning opportunities?
Is the process of financing political parties transparent and generally accepted?
Following elections, are the constitutional mechanisms for the orderly transfer of power from one government to another clear, established and accepted?
Are citizens free to form political parties that are independent of the government?
Do opposition parties have a realistic prospect of achieving government?
Is potential access to public office open to all citizens?
Are citizens allowed to form political and civic organisations, free of state interference and surveillance?
Functioning of government
Is the legislature the supreme political body, with a clear supremacy over other branches of government?
Is there an effective system of checks and balances on the exercise of government authority?
Government is free of undue influence by the military or the security services.
Foreign powers and organisations do not determine important government functions or policies.
Do special economic, religious or other powerful domestic groups exercise significant political power, parallel to democratic institutions?
Are sufficient mechanisms and institutions in place for ensuring government accountability to the electorate in between elections?
Does the government’s authority extend over the full territory of the country?
Is the functioning of government open and transparent, with sufficient public access to information?
How pervasive is corruption?
Is the civil service willing to and capable of implementing government policy?
Popular perceptions of the extent to which citizens have free choice and control over their lives.
Public confidence in government.
Public confidence in political parties.
Political participation
Voter participation/turn-out for national elections.
Do ethnic, religious and other minorities have a reasonable degree of autonomy and voice in the political process?
Women in parliament.
Extent of political participation – Membership of political parties and political non-governmental organisations.
Citizens’ engagement with politics.
The preparedness of population to take part in lawful demonstrations.
Adult literacy.
Extent to which adult population shows an interest in and follows politics in the news.
The authorities make a serious effort to promote political participation.
Democratic political culture
Is there a sufficient degree of societal consensus and cohesion to underpin a stable, functioning democracy?
Perceptions of leadership – Proportion of the population that desires a strong leader who bypasses parliament and elections.
Perceptions of military rule – Proportion of the population that would prefer military rule.
Perceptions of rule by experts or technocratic government – Proportion of the population that would prefer rule by experts or technocrats.
Perception of democracy and public order – proportion of the population that believes that democracies are not good at maintaining public order.
Perception of democracy and the economic system – Proportion of the population that believes that democracy benefits economic performance.
Degree of popular support for democracy.
There is a strong tradition of the separation of Church and State.
Civil liberties
Is there a free electronic media?
Is there a free print media?
Is there freedom of expression and protest (bar only generally accepted restrictions, such as banning advocacy of violence)?
Is media coverage robust? Is there open and free discussion of public issues, with a reasonable diversity of opinions?
Are there political restrictions on access to the Internet?
Are citizens free to form professional organisations and trade unions?
Do institutions provide citizens with the opportunity to petition government to redress grievances?
The use of torture by the state.
The degree to which the judiciary is independent of government influence.
The degree of religious tolerance and freedom of religious expression.
The degree to which citizens are treated equally under the law.
Do citizens enjoy basic security?
Extent to which private property rights are protected and private business is free from undue government influence.
Extent to which citizens enjoy personal freedoms.
Popular perceptions on protection of human rights – Proportion of the population that think that basic human rights are well-protected.
There is no significant discrimination on the basis of people’s race, colour or religious beliefs.
Extent to which the government invokes new risks and threats as an excuse for curbing civil liberties.
There are clearly some questions that are factual – for example, voter turn-out for national elections in question 27 and the percentage of women in parliament in question 29 are matters of record. There are others that are based on perceptions such as questions 36 to 42 where the opinions of the people are the key issue.
The Jersey Policy Forum has done some research to address the fact-based questions. The remaining questions based on people’s opinion / perception have been included in an online survey with appropriate modifications to reflect Jersey’s unique characteristics and status – for example, “national legislature” is now “States Assembly”.
Does Jersey have a full or flawed democracy, a hybrid or even authoritarian system? The answer depends on your views so it’s over to you! We’ll do the analysis and share the results in next month’s article.
This article first appeared in Connect Magazine, which you can read in full HERE.
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