For this assignment, four countries, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe were chosen to assess which of them is the most democratic country critically. Generally speaking, a country’s democracy is a complex and ambiguous system: it includes many angles, whether it be the political regime, citizens’ freedoms, or the ability to speak out and not be punished for it. Nevertheless, this assignment proposes examining three criteria — perceptions of corruption, levels of freedom, and opportunities for individual development. A comparative analysis across four countries and three dimensions will provide the desired answer. The CPI reflects the level of perceived corruption, that is, the extent to which society is willing to accept the excesses of power among officials (“Corruption Perceptions Index“).
Levels of freedom include unrestricted freedom, freedom to access the Internet (“Global Freedom Status”). Finally, HDI measures life expectancy, education, and per capita income as the quality-of-life metrics (“Human Development Indicators“). For Cuba, the CPI is numerically 47, the country is considered unfree (GF = 0.13, IF = 0.21), and the weighted average HDI is 0.783. Regarding KSA, CPI is 53, the country is proprietary (0.07 and 0.24), and HDI is 0.854. Vietnam has a CPI of 36, GF is 0.19, and IF is 0.22, while HDI is 0.704. Finally, for Zimbabwe, the CPI was 24, the country is not free (GF=0.28 and IF=0.46), and the HDI was 0.571.
Using the above data, it becomes possible to identify the country where democracy is most fully developed. It is Saudi Arabia, which has peaked on two fronts, although it is not an entirely free country. Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia has the slightest encouragement for corruption, and its quality-of-life indices are higher.
Works Cited
“Corruption Perceptions Index.” TI, n.d. Web.
“Global Freedom Status.” FH, n.d. Web.
“Human Development Indicators” UNDP, n.d. Web.