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'the world’s oldest surviving democracy' Highly debatable, and rather sets the absolutist tone that follows.
by jacknews 6y ago
'the world’s oldest surviving democracy'
Highly debatable, and rather sets the absolutist tone that follows.
- tzs 6y agoHere's an article that tries to identify the oldest democracies [1]. Their criteria are (1) executive is elected directly or indirectly in popular elections and is responsible either directly to voters or to a legislature, (2) the legislature (or the executive if the executive is directly elected) is chosen in free and fair elections, and (3) a majority of adult men have the right to vote. By that criteria, they get 219 years for the US, 171 for Switzerland, 162 for New Zealand, 152 for Canada 134 for the UK. Rounding out the top 10 are Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, and Australia at 129, 125, 122, 119, and 118. [1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/countries-are-the-worlds-oldest-democracies https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/countries-are-the-wor...