United Kingdom

63 million people
37,840 USD GNI (PPP)
Internet:
Free
Press:
Free
Free

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FREEDOM AT ISSUE BLOG

Scotland, Separatism, and the Global Struggle for Democracy

Tyler Roylance
Staff Editor
December 11, 2013

Democracy advocates would do well to scrutinize the white paper released last month by the Scottish National Party in preparation for an independence referendum scheduled for September 2014. The document and the vote it heralds may have important implications for the viability of multinational democracies elsewhere, the global balance of forces between free and authoritarian countries, and the fundamental notion of democracy as a sturdy supplier of good governance.

 
FREEDOM AT ISSUE BLOG

The European Economic Crisis has Coincided with a Decline in Press Freedom in the EU

Jennifer Dunham
Project Manager, Freedom in the World and Freedom of the Press
Zselyke Csaky
Research Analyst, Nations in Transit
May 27, 2013

In the half decade since the beginning of the economic crisis, global press freedom has declined, and the EU has been no exception to this trend. Reporting on a new survey on press freedom, Jennifer Dunham and Zselyke Csaky find that Greece and Hungary have experienced large declines in press freedom in recent years, with Lithuania, Latvia and Spain also seeing falls. They write that the economic crisis has exacerbated deep-rooted problems across Europe’s media environments leading to a decline in print media circulation and diversity, as well as a greater concentration of media ownership.
FREEDOM AT ISSUE BLOG

Depardieu the Defector

Dawes Cooke
Guest Blogger
February 6, 2013

Gérard Depardieu’s bombastic personality and distinguished acting career have made him a cultural icon in France. However, he recently earned international notoriety by embracing Russian president Vladimir Putin and announcing that he would give up his French passport in favor of a Russian one.
FREEDOM AT ISSUE BLOG

Democracy Saves the King

Tyler Roylance
Staff Editor
July 23, 2012

At a recent conference on modern monarchy in London, Princeton University professor David Cannadine observed that monarchy “has not been a growth industry” over the last century, and that most of the monarchies that have disappeared were authoritarian in nature. Data from Freedom in the World support this notion, which should serve as both a warning and a spur to democratic reform for the few authoritarian monarchies that remain, especially in the Middle East. But the transition to democracy need not be a matter of mere survival: monarchies already in the democratic camp seem to excel, scoring disproportionately well among the world’s free countries.

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Evaluation of 2008-2011 UN Human Rights Council Candidates

On May 21, 2008, the UN General Assembly will elect 15 new Human Rights Council members. Twenty countries are candidates. Freedom House and UN Watch evaluated each candidate’s suitability for election to the Human Rights Council by examining its record of human rights protection at home and its record of human rights promotion at the UN.

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