*****World's strongest democracies (interactive map)
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) latest Democracy Index 2016 shows 72 countries experienced a decline in democratic values last year. Countries with declining levels of democracy outnumbered those becoming more democratic by more than 2 to 1. The EIU’s Democracy Index measures the state of democracy by rating electoral processes and pluralism, the state of civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture in more than 160 countries worldwide. The EIU’s ranking shows the average global democracy score in 2016 fell to 5.52, down from 5.55 in 2015 (on a scale of 0 to 10). Norway leads the world’s democracies
Technology and the Internet
Social Enterprise Youth Skills Value Chains
*****Social Progress Index: These are the countries ranked best - and worst - at governing (governance)
For the amount of money it has to spend, the US is worse than every other Western country at providing its citizens with a good society. That’s according to the Social Progress Index, a new way of measuring how good a job societies are doing for the people who live in them. The purpose of it is to find a rigorous, mathematical means of defining a country’s success that isn’t just GDP. (Incidentally, GDP was designed to measure production from farms and factories, and doesn’t map very well to what today’s economies actually consist of.)
Climate Change and Global Warming Introduction
On this page: What is Global Warming and Climate Change? Global warming and climate change refer to an increase in average global temperatures. Natural events and human activities are believed to be contributing to an increase in average global temperatures. This is caused primarily by increases in greenhouse gases such as Carbon Dioxide (CO2). A warming planet thus leads to a change in climate which can affect weather in various ways, as discussed further below.
Why replacing politicians with experts is a reckless idea
Democracy is tired, vindictive, self-deceiving, paranoid, clumsy and frequently ineffectual. Much of the time it is living on past glories. This sorry state of affairs reflects what we have become.
This map shows the US really has 11 separate 'nations' with entirely different cultures
Is Britain Becoming a Failed State? by Chris Patten
Failed states used to be largely the preserve of the developing world, where the institutions of democracy do not have deep roots. But given the extent to which the Brexit campaign has undermined Britain's institutions through lies, it is reasonable to worry that the country will soon come to resemble a tinpot dictatorship. LONDON – What is a failed state? Not so long ago, when I was Britain’s Overseas Development Minister, and later European Commissioner for External Affairs, I would probably have tried to answer the question by pointing to specific examples, including several countries in Latin America and Africa. I would have highlighted tribal conflicts, military coups, economic failure, extremes of poverty, and high mortality rates.
The power of people against poverty
