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Ken Livingstone - Labour National Executive - Defend Democracy in Tower Hamlets - 13.11.14
Support the Petition Here - Respect our democracy treat councils equally! - http://chn.ge/1xyLf8x Defend Democracy in Tower Hamlets Stop the witch-hunt of Mayor Lutfur Rahman A community...

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Ken Livingstone - Labour National Executive - Defend Democracy in Tower Hamlets - 13.11.14 - Video

Capitalism and Democracy in Africa 19th Century
Team: Sofa Ayerdi Emma Milln Daniela Caldern Leonardo Valdz Andrea de la Paz Group 2 🙂

By: Sofia Ayerdi

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Capitalism and Democracy in Africa 19th Century - Video

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- On the road to democracy, Myanmar has sputtered, and it's time to move forward, said President Obama from the porch of an infamously symbolic home in the country's largest city.

Aung San Suu Kyi had been under house arrest there for 15 years for her democracy activism. But on Friday, now a parliamentarian, she stood side by side with Obama, her fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

She consoled her compatriots that democracy does not come easy and difficulties don't have to be permanent.

He praised democratic progress, particularly an increase in freedom of the press, but then laid his finger in the wounds left by the remnants of military dictatorship and ongoing ethnic tension.

Military dominance

Reform is not complete and can still be reversed, Obama said.

Military rule has officially ended in Myanmar, which democracy activists call Burma, and the country's first multiparty national elections in 2012, the same year that Obama became the first sitting U.S. President to visit the country.

There was much fanfare back then about Myanmar's move towards democracy.

But the military still has a major hold on parliament, and Obama called for Myanmar to move to a strictly civilian government.

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President Obama tells Myanmar to move forward on democracy

Democracy, like human development, is something that matters. Furthermore, democracy is not an either-or, black-or-white, but has degrees, of greater or lesser magnitude. In other words, it can be measured by an index, just as human development is measured by the Human Development Index (see Lagging behind in Southeast Asia, Opinion, 10/25/2014).

Since 2006, the Economic Intelligence Unit (www.eiu.com), an independent business firm within the Economist group, has been making a Democracy Indexbeing branded, it is capitalizedspecifically for its cross-country analysis. This Index is published for 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012. The latest report has scores for 167 countries, including 10 from Southeast Asia.

The Democracy Index is based on answers to a questionnaire of 60 items about conditions in a country, mostly answered by country specialists, but with up to 12 items drawn from existing national surveys. The 60 items have five categories, allowing five category-indexes, which are averaged, without weights, into an overall index. The indexes are scored from 0 to 10democracy is complete at 10, and nonexistent at 0.

The Democracy Index classifies countries with a score of 8 or more as Full Democracies. Those with scores from 6.0 to 7.9 are termed Flawed Democracies. Those with scores from 4.0 to 5.9 are Hybrid Regimes, and those below 4.0 are Authoritarian Regimes. Country No. 1 is Norway (9.93), and country No. 167 is North Korea (1.08), as of 2012.

Democracy in Southeast Asia. Based on the Democracy Index, the quality of democracy in Southeast Asia differs widely, but no country is a Full Democracy. The highest score is that of Timor Leste (7.16)which declared its independence from Portugal in 1975, was annexed by Indonesia in 1976, and regained its independence only in 2002.

Southeast Asia has five so-called Flawed Democracies, namely Timor Leste (7.16), Indonesia (6.76), Thailand (6.55), Malaysia (6.41), and the Philippines (6.30). It has two Hybrid Regimes, namely Singapore (5.88) and Cambodia (4.96). And it has three Authoritarian Regimes: Vietnam (2.89), Myanmar or Burma (2.35), and Lao PDR (2.32). (Brunei is not indexed, thus far.)

The world rankings in Southeast Asia, according to the Democracy Index, are: 43. Timor Leste, 53. Indonesia, 58. Thailand, 64. Malaysia, 69. Philippines, 81. Singapore, 100. Cambodia, 144. Vietnam, 155. Myanmar, and 156. Lao PDR.

Components of the index. The Democracy Indexs five categories are as follows (with the number of question-items per category in parentheses):

1. electoral process and pluralism (12),

2. functioning of government (14), 3. political participation (9), 4. political culture (8), and

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The Democracy Index

HONG KONG Twenty-one-year-old student Choi doesnt tell his parents when he heads off to join the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Its simply not worth the aggravation.

We had a few discussions, but it never ended well, he said, using only one name to avoid more trouble with his family. We avoid talking about it now. Lots of my friends have a bad situation at home as well."

These days the Chinese territory of Hong Kong seems full of divisions. There is a generational divide between young people who support the protests and older people who dont; there are tensions between Hong Kong and the government of China and between the peoples of Hong Kong and mainland China. There are even divisions between protesters about the best way forward.

Police have used tear gas and pepper spray on the protesters, who have responded with abuse and insults thrown back at the police over the barricades.

Groups of old men turn up at the protest sites and taunt the students as traitors who are fulfilling a Western agenda to bring China down; pro-democracy protesters jeer at their opponents as agents of the Beijing government, betraying Hong Kongs unique values and Cantonese-speaking identity.

This once apolitical enclave has suddenly become a polarized place, and not everybody is comfortable with the change.

I have lived in Hong Kong since 1948 and I cant remember a single issue that has so divided society, said Anson Chan, the 74-year old former chief secretary of the territory who has joined those calling for democracy. Even within my family there are such strongly held views.

There is growing talk that Hong Kong police will soon move in to clear the protest sites. But whenever and however the protests end, the legacy of polarization, recrimination and retaliation is likely to endure far longer.

Public relations director Davis Man laments that there is little room left for people in the middle, who he says now get pressure from both sides.

Man says he appreciates the students for fighting for what they believe in, but he argues that the occupation has gone on too long. Leaders on both sides, he says, seem to have little interest in cooling down the situation.

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Hong Kong wrestles with growing polarization