| Lyimo:EIU Democracy Index: with 'studies' like this, who needs fiction writers...? | Send to a friend |
| Saturday, 04 February 2012 20:54 |
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Whenever I'm in a lighthearted mood and long for something to make me lightheaded — 'lightheaded' in the sense of 'frivolity,' not send me over the edge of reason — then I surf the net for the findings of some study that ropes in my country-of-birth-but-not-choice: Tanzania. In 'My book of things,' such findings are more often than not the result of 'inverted chequebook studies.' These are 'kissing cousins' to pejorative chequebook journalism-in-reverse. That's when and where persons or institutions normally not worth two-bits pay out money to have unduly flattering images of them published for general consumption! The point here's that, if thorough investigative reporting were conducted in the traditional manner and style regarding the persons/institutions involved — with no baksheesh changing hands under the table — then the findings'd reveal the truth, warts and all, that's under the facade created via chequebook journalism-in-reverse! So, back to my Internet-surfing... Oh, oh, oh, here's a recent one: 'Tanzania's ranked the most democratic nation in the East Africa region in a research which covered 165 nations. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index has slotted Tanzania into the 90th position on the global list...' [TheCitizen, et al: Jan. 15, 2012]. The Index reportedly “measures the state of democracy in 167 countries worldwide. 166 of them're sovereign states, and 165 are UN members...” The Index is based on “60 indicators in five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; functioning of government;political participation, and political culture...” The countries 'studied' in 2010 were categorized into 'Full Democracies' (25 states, including Uruguay, Mauritius); 'Flawed Democracies' (53 states, including Israel, Italy, Portugal, SA, Zambia); 'Hybrid Regimes' (37, including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi Malawi, Iraq) and Authoritarian Regimes' (52 states, including Rwanda, Russia, Cuba,China, Nigeria, Saudia, Zimbabwe). For the sake of curiosity, the 2010 rankings have Norway the world's most democratic nation-state — with North Korea at the bottom! By the way, a Hybrid Regime — like Tanzania — “shares certain features of democratic and authoritarian regimes,” such as “allowing some form of political pluralism, and conducting elections. However, these elections are often neither free nor fair — and (the states) perform dismally on other indicators of democracy such as political participation, functioning of government, political culture and civilliberties.” Analysts warn that the 'hybrid' countries “need to implement genuine political reforms to improve the election processes, political pluralism and governance, as well as develop more tolerance to civil rights... Otherwise, they will slide down to the authoritarian system whose features they partly share!” (I secretly hope and wish that the National Electoral Commission in Dar reads this and acts on the advice...). What's galling, though, is the methodology (and secrecy) the EIU applies in arriving at their findings and rankings. For instance... Well, let 'Wikipedia' tell it like it is... “The Democracy Index is a kind of weighted average based on answers to 60 questions, each with either two or three alternative answers.” However, “most answers are 'experts' assessments; the (EIU) report doesn't indicate what kind of experts, nor their numbers, nor their nationalities — nor whether the 'experts' are employees of the EIU or independent scholars!” In certain cases, Wikipedia says, “some answers are provided by public-opinion surveys from the respective countries. In the case of countries for which survey results are missing, survey results for similar countries and expert assessments are used in order to fill in gaps!” Get the Big Picture? With 'researchers' like this, who needs fiction writers? And, by the way: who's paying them for such (reverse) chequebook studies? I ask you! Cheers! [ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ]. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
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