UNIVERSITY OF MILANOCOMPARATIVE POLITICS 2013

Paulina Przybylska

Freedom House is a Washington-based non-governmental organisation established in 1941 to promote democracy around the globeAssesses democracy in 193 countries by

examining the availability of Political rightscivil liberties

Uses reports, assessments by scholars & experts to rate each country on a 7 point scale: 1 is high…………......7 is low

WHAT IS FREEDOM HOUSE?

Support to the expansion of freedom in the world

Freedom House is a catalyst for freedom, democracy, and the rule of law

Supports democratic change, monitors freedom, and advocates for democracy and human rights.

Aid to political science research

WHAT’S THE AIM?

Freedom House measures freedom according to two broad categories:

1.Political rights - enable people to participate freely in the political

process through the right to vote, compete for public office and elect representatives who have a decisive impact on public policies and are accountable to the electorate.

2. Civil liberties allow for:- the freedoms of expression and belief,- associational and organizational rights- rule of law, and personal autonomy without

interference from the state

What is Freedom House’s definition of “freedom”?

Map of Freedom in the World:focuses on …

countries

territories (e.g., Palestinian Authority-Administered Territories or Nagorno-Karabakh).

 Since 1972 Freedom House publishes an annual report, Freedom in the World, on the degree of democratic freedoms according to civil and political rights on a scale from 1 (most free) to 7 (least free).

1.0 to 2.5 considered "free".

States with values from 3.0 to 5.0 were considered "partly free"

and those with values between 5.5 and 7.0 as "not free".

THREE BROAD CATEGORY DESIGNATIONS:1. FREE:- open political competition- a climate of respect for civil liberties- significant independent civic life independent media2. PARTLY FREE:- Limited respect for political rights and civil liberties- Enviroment of corruption- Weak rule of law- Ethnic and religious strife- Single party enjoys dominance despite a certain

degree of pluralism

3. NOT FREE:- Basic political rights are absent- Basic civil liberties are widely and

systematically denied

Scores for cases

Freedom House scale from 1 till 7

South Africa Zimbabwe

Argentina, India North Korea

See: www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2007

1.0-2.5= free 3.0 - 5.0 = partly free 5.5- 7.0 = not free

NOT FREE WITH THE LOWEST RATING 7:-NORTH KOREA-TURKMENISTAN-UZBEKISTAN-SUDAN-GUINEA-ERITREA-SAUDI ARABIA-SYRIA-SOMALIA-TIBET-WESTERN SAHARA

SLIGHTY ABOVE 7:-BELARUS-CHAD-CHINA-CUBA-LAOS-SOUTH OSSETIA

WORST OF THE WORST:

SIGNATURE REPORTS OF FREEDOM HOUSE:

1.Freedom in the World

2. Freedom on the Net

3. Freedom of the Press

4. Nations in Transit - study of reform in the former Communist states of

Europe and Eurasia

5. Countries at the Crossroads - countries that are at a critical crossroads in determining

their political future (ex. Egypt, Tunisia)

6. Women's Rights in the Middle East and North Africa

 Nations are scored from 0 to 4 on several questions and the sum determines the rankings, ex:

1. Is the head of state and/or head of government or other chief authority elected through free and fair elections?

2. Is there an independent judiciary?3. Are there free trade unions?4. Is there effective collective bargaining?

1. Freedom in the world:

AZERBAIJAN NOT FREE6 5

BULGARIA* FREE 2 2

GERMANY* FREE 1 1

GREECE* FREE 2 2

HUNGARY* FREE 1 2

ITALY* FREE 1

VENEZUELA PARTLY FREE

5 5

Index for: Italy, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Venezuela, Azerbeijan

1. DeclinesItaly: political rights ratings declined from 1

to 2 due to continued, widespread grand and petty corruption, especially in the south.

2. Trends arrows downGreece: received a downward trend arrow

due to a significant upsure in right-wing violence, led by Golden Dawn party, against immigrant groups, their supporters, and the political left, as well as the lack of effective police protection from this violence

4. Nations in transition

NATIONS IN TRANSIT countries on the borderline of democracy:

AZERBEIJAN: CONSOLIDADED AUTHORITARIAN REGIME(closed societies in which dictators prevent political competition and pluralism and are responsible for widespread violations of basic political, civil, and human rights)

BULGARIA: SEMI-CONSOLIDADED DEMOCRACY(electoral democracies that meet relatively high standards for the selection of national leaders but exhibit some weaknesses in their defense of political rights and civil liberties)

HUNGARY: CONSOLIDADED DEMOCRACY

Criticisms about Freedom House:Various sources of “bias”

issues with aggregation (different scores, same category)

inadequate level of transparency and replicability of the scales

ideological biases scores for leftist governments are influenced by political considerations (negative conception of freedom); changes in scores are sometimes driven by changes in the criteria rather than changes in real conditions

 promoting U.S. government interests abroad