Every community is governed by someone. Who should hold power, and by what means can those who are governed be heard, and protected from those who govern?
The picture
What the numbers show, read from the Data library each time the page opens.
How to read the chart above, and the words it uses (for liberal democracy index).
How to read the data
The index is an expert-coded score of how far elections are free and fair, rights are protected and courts and the legislature can check the rulers. It is built from surveys of country experts, so it records their judgement and not a count of anything.
Key terms
Liberal democracy
A system in which rulers are chosen in free elections and their power is limited by law, courts and protected rights.
Index
A single score built by combining several judgements, running from none to fullest.
Expert coding
Scores given by country specialists who answer the same set of questions for each year.
Who has a stake
Each interest, then readings from the Catholic library and the Classics library that bear on it, oldest first. Choose a group to read.
To have a real say in who rules and by what laws, and to be able to ask the rulers to account.
That a majority may not override their conscience, their speech or their basic rights.
To act with authority that is accepted, to be held to the law, and to be able to decide and be succeeded without disorder.
That the way power is held keeps the peace and lasts, and serves the common good and not a part.
For discussion
Aristotle thought the many might judge better together than any one of them alone, and Plato feared their disorder. What would each need to see to change their mind?
Aquinas wanted all to share in rule and also one to preside. How might the interests of citizens and of those who govern both be weighed in one arrangement?
John Paul II warned that a democracy without values can turn into thinly disguised totalitarianism. What protects the person who is outnumbered?
