Thailand’s democracy index ranking continues to slide downward

[realenglish1]

And people thought Thailand is a democracy Not at this time Tune in next year and you will see the same

[harleyclarkey]

7 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Not perfect - but very excellent!

 

Ireland is a really good model country in so many ways. Democracy, follows the rules, doesn't try and bully or cheat other countries, makes people welcome, and by and large is easy to get along with and pleasant.

 

Of all the countries I've been too, mostly working, Irish hospitality and friendliness is one of the stand outs.

 

To be honest, wish more countries were like Ireland in attitude.

 

 

Very nice and kind comments.....!

Edited March 3, 2017 by harleyclarkey

[optad]

16 hours ago, Brer Fox said:

For those interested here is part of the Wiki explanation of how the rankings are arrived at. Can't help but wonder with a smile what Thailand's scores would be for Catagory 4

As described in the report,^[2] the democracy index is a weighted average based on the answers of 60 questions, each one with either two or three permitted alternative answers. Most answers are "experts' assessments"; the report does not indicate what kinds of experts, nor their number, nor whether the experts are employees of the Economist Intelligence Unit or independent scholars, nor the nationalities of the experts. Some answers are provided by public-opinion surveys from the respective countries. In the case of countries for which survey results are missing, survey results for similar countries and expert assessments are used in order to fill in gaps.

The questions are distributed in the five categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation, and political culture. Each answer is translated to a mark, either 0 or 1, or for the three-answer alternative questions, 0.5. With the exceptions mentioned below, the sums are added within each category, multiplied by ten, and divided by the total number of questions within the category. There are a few modifying dependencies, which are explained much more precisely than the main rule procedures. In a few cases, an answer yielding zero for one question voids another question; e.g., if the elections for the national legislature and head of government are not considered free (question 1), then the next question, "Are elections... fair?" is not considered, but automatically marked zero. Likewise, there are a few questions considered so important that a low score on them yields a penalty on the total score sum for their respective categories, namely:

1. "Whether national elections are free and fair";
2. "The security of voters";
3. "The influence of foreign powers on government";
4. "The capability of the civil servants to implement policies".

Brer that Wiki is based on the 2012 report.

 

2016 report is here. Much stays the same although Brexit and the rise of Trump touched on in 2016 report.  Both phenomena considered in the light of being either pro democratic forces for change or as a possible threat to democracy. Fair question to ask and read!

 

http://pages.eiu.com/rs/783-XMC-194/images/Democracy_Index_2016.pdf

 

Report also comments in Britain, that a long held political cynicism was "reversed" with Brexit and gave democracy a bump [p.4]. UK is still a lighter shade of green though than some other "full democracies" which hopefully some poster will explain. 

 

Thailand in the last report was 58th. Here it is 100th/167. It is a substantial slide with African tin-pot regime filling in the last 67 places. Not sure if that stat has been mentioned. The reasons for this are obvious.

 

 

[Aussie69]

Nice to see Ireland up there with the Nordic countries and Canada (and OZ) as one of the few full Democracies on the planet! 
Good old Irish.....don't we do well for a tiny country! 

Why is "and OZ" in parentheses?

[harleyclarkey]

17 minutes ago, Aussie69 said:

 

Why is "and OZ" in parentheses?

 

 

Parenthesis because it is a shortened word......a nickname....a colloquialism 

 

The country has been referred to colloquially as Oz since the early 20th century.

[optad]

52 minutes ago, harleyclarkey said:

Parenthesis because it is a shortened word......a nickname....a colloquialism 

 

The country has been referred to colloquially as Oz since the early 20th century.

There you go aussie!! You have been learnt mate ~

 

Actually Harley , the parentheses Aussie refers to are brackets which was how you phrased the term.

 

Quote

and Canada (and OZ) as 

 

I don't think he needed a history lesson or an etymological description on a familiar term.

 

Edited March 3, 2017 by optad

[philosphrstone]

16 registered parties...  and only two who can win an election, neither of which represent the people...  democracy is dead if you think Canada has it.

[Aussie69]

 

There you go aussie!! You have been learnt mate

 

Yep mate. Got me some of that there fancy book learnin and a history lesson on Straya.

BTW:

https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/parens.asp

[mtls2005]

Given that elections are likely to be postponed again, one assumes that only a dead-cat bounce could improve Thailand's standing?

 

Are there any other "military" governments currently "ruling" elsewhere in the world?

 

Ah, Thailand's uniqueness.

[Momofarang]

17 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

So France, Italy, the USA are flawed democracies same as India and South Africa.

 

Sopped bothering with this report after that. 

I immigrated from France to Oz some 35 years ago. I had tears of joy when two young promising ministers lost their jobs after on of them was held by customs for the illegal import of a colour TV set. A few years later there was the "paddington bear affair"...

 

Fillon is still running for president. 5555555!

 

Really love this map and the people who produce it. But somehow our Kiwi friends have gone missing. Maybe they are just too good.

[HemskaSven]

But the Thai currency is almost stronger than ever. Democracy and economic is not the same.

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Thaivisa Connect mobile app

[localczar]

i'm shocked at this fake news.

[esprit]

Another Cilla, Surprise , Surprise

[spidermike007]

The current regime seems to want to hang on for as long as they possibly can. This despite the fact that it is the worst thing for the people. Little P. does not care one iota for his people. It is all about the money and the power. To even consider Thailand a hybrid democracy is the greatest form of generosity possible. Nearly absolute censorship of the media. No ability to hold a public protest, of any sort. No public participation in any decision making. No talent in any part of the administration. Absolute nepotism, and appointment by connection, rather than any merit. A woman with a simple business background running the tourism ministry. 

 

Little P. Moving Thailand backwards at an astonishing and alarming pace. 

[Jimbo in Thailand]

You folks beat me to it.  Democracy? Here? Post May 2013 to date?  I also think a rating of ZERO is being optimistic.

 

In a related subject, can anyone cite even one anti-corruption deed Mr. Anti-corruption Crusader has actually followed through with?  The only example I can possibly think of is that lounge-chairs-business removal from a single remote beach in northern Phuket by the army shortly after the coup.  Other than that I can't think of another example.

 

And don't get me started on importing toy drones or the ubiquitous used-in-virtually-every-new-electronic-device lithium-ion lithium-polymer batteries.  And when inquiring at the local post office why my three separate shipments of hobby batteries hadn't been delivered, from three separate vendors (internationally, naturally) he said lithium batteries are considered hazardous materials.  He also told me an edict had come down from above that the post office will no longer be allowed to deliver imported smartphones.  We'll just have to wait to see how accurate that statement is.

 

Yep, I would say a rating of ZERO on the democracy scale for the former Land of Smiles is quite optimistic. 

Edited March 4, 2017 by Jimbo in Thailand
clarity

[harleyclarkey]

12 hours ago, optad said:

There you go aussie!! You have been learnt mate ~

 

Actually Harley , the parentheses Aussie refers to are brackets which was how you phrased the term.

 

 

I don't think he needed a history lesson or an etymological description on a familiar term.

 

 

 

Well "O" (!) he did ask........

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 3/3/2017 at 7:59 AM, darksidedog said:

I am sure a denial will be issued shortly, explainging how this report has it all wrong, just like every other report critical of Thailand.

 

Well, the normal response would be for some Thai official to soon announce that they know the people behind the EIU will soon be raising Thailand's rating to the highest level.

[Narratio]

But Thailand IS a democracy! One man, one vote, the basic concept of democracy is in force here.

Unfortunately, what with translation issues and such, here in Thailand, they understood that to mean that the PM is the man and he has the vote.

 

This is why he still refers to himself as always being in favor of democracy.

[DM07]

On Friday, March 03, 2017 at 1:31 PM, philosphrstone said:

What a crock...  I am from Canada and to say we have a total democracy there is a complete and utter lie.  35% of the vote is all that is required to have a majority government (ie dictatorship) there...  Our civil liberties also continue to be eroded with every passing day.  We have 3 political parties of which two only ever get into power...  political participation is low because, just like everywhere else, the rich get their way no matter what.  We also have a prime minister who has no qualifications and got elected because his father was PM 30 years ago and he is nice to look at.  If Canada is one of the most democratic nations in the world then that is basically saying democracy is dead.  Thailand is not so bad...

This is satire, right?!

[Jeremy50]

On 3/4/2017 at 10:33 AM, HemskaSven said:

But the Thai currency is almost stronger than ever. Democracy and economic is not the same.

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Thaivisa Connect mobile app
 

The Baht is held high and not allowed to float. A strong Baht is seen as a sign of national prestige. Also, the moneyed powerful can buy property in London and other top cities with their strong baht. It won't ever change, unless there is a total collapse of the banking system at some stage in the future. Thai exports suffer, but no one seems to care much about that.

[wakeupplease]

Democracy Here?  Where please show me!

 

We are talking about the people and the majority voting for who they think is the right party to take a country forward

 

Not one man with all the voting power taking a beautiful country in the direction of NK