Freedom House 2009 ratings released

[Bacon King]

http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=445

overview essay:
http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/fiw09/FIW09_OverviewEssay_Final.pdf
charts and graphs:
http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/fiw09/FIW09_Tables&GraphsForWeb.pdf

Big stuff this year:
-South Ossetia given ranking, status of "Not Free"
-Afghanistan moved from "Party Free" to "Not Free"
-Mauritanea moved from "Partly Free to "Not Free"
-Senegal moved from "Free" to "Partly Free"
-Maldives improved from "Not Free" to "Partly Free"
-Pakistan improved from "Not Free" to "Partly Free"
-notable decline in much of former Soviet Union
-notable decline in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

How the heck does a country that bans some political parties from participating in an election because of their position on a current event get a 1 (best possible rating) for Political Liberty?

[Daniel Adams]

How the heck does a country that bans some political parties from participating in an election because of their position on a current event get a 1 (best possible rating) for Political Liberty?

So what rating would you give Germany?

[Matt Damon™]

How the heck does a country that bans some political parties from participating in an election because of their position on a current event get a 1 (best possible rating) for Political Liberty?

White guilt over 1945.

[Franzl]

How the heck does a country that bans some political parties from participating in an election because of their position on a current event get a 1 (best possible rating) for Political Liberty?

White guilt over 1945.

Isn't Freedom House at least partially funded by the U.S. government?

[Matt Damon™]

The anglosphere has the most guilt about treatment of jews despite having the least to feel guilty about.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

How the heck does a country that bans some political parties from participating in an election because of their position on a current event get a 1 (best possible rating) for Political Liberty?

So what rating would you give Germany?

I was referring to Israel.

[Yamor]

He knows you were referring to Israel, and is answering you back that in Germany too they ban neo-nazi political parties, since they're illegal. The same is true in any country with illegal parties. His point is that these arab parties are illegal, since they support terrorism, and don't accept the right of the state of Israel to exist.
Anyway, the high court will probably reinstate the two parties, like they did last time.
By the way the banning had nothing to do with recent events, they've said they were going to do it for some time now.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

He knows you were referring to Israel, and is answering you back that in Germany too they ban neo-nazi political parties, since they're illegal. The same is true in any country with illegal parties. His point is that these arab parties are illegal, since they support terrorism, and don't accept the right of the state of Israel to exist.
Anyway, the high court will probably reinstate the two parties, like they did last time.
By the way the banning had nothing to do with recent events, they've said they were going to do it for some time now.

Disagreeing with the Zionists unilaterally attempting to implement a solution by violence and being in favor of a two state solution on the pre-1967 boundaries is neither supporting terrorism, nor denying the right of the state of Israel to exist.   I will accept that being in favor of the right of return would be a problem for Israel if it were to keep to the 1967 borders, as that would likely mean an Arab majority, but that just goes to show that the idea that Israel is a country with civil rights for all sufficient to warrant the highest rating of liberties is bunk.  If the right of return were ever accepted then Israel would have to return to the 1947 partition line to hope to keep a majority Jewish state.

[Horus]

When it comes to personal freedoms, Israel is a good 1 or 2. However, when it comes to foreign policy, Israel is one of the most disgusting nations on the planet.

[Yamor]

If those would be their policies, there would not be a problem at all. There are plenty of leftist parties who would agree with that, and more. The problems here were that these parties supported terrorism, kept up relations with enemy states, and deny the right of Israel to exist at all.
I'm British, but have lived in Israel for one and a half years now, and I can tell you that political freedom here is complete. Opposition and press criticism of the government is far greater then I ever experienced in the UK, or in the States, where I lived for a short time too. There has never been a problem when the governing party get voted out, and there have never been any major allegations of vote rigging. Judicial freedom is complete too, with the courts often going against what the government want, and the judgements are listened to.

[Middle-aged Europe]

How the heck does a country that bans some political parties from participating in an election because of their position on a current event get a 1 (best possible rating) for Political Liberty?

So what rating would you give Germany?

Germany does not ban political parties from participating in an election because of their position on a current event. Germany bans political parties. Because of their general stance towards democracy. At least in theory, since it wasn't successfully done since 1956.

As for Germany's Freedom House rating... aside from the fact that it was last done in 1956, only the Federal Constitutional Court is able to ban political parties. So you could argue (and I guess this is what Freedom House does) that it follows the principles of due process and separation of powers. Earlier in this decade there was an attempt made to have the NPD banned by the Constitutional Court. But this attempt backfired and failed in court.

[Daniel Adams]

How the heck does a country that bans some political parties from participating in an election because of their position on a current event get a 1 (best possible rating) for Political Liberty?

So what rating would you give Germany?

Germany does not ban political parties from participating in an election because of their position on a current event. Germany bans political parties. Because of their general stance towards democracy. At least in theory, since it wasn't successfully done since 1956.

As for Germany's Freedom House rating... aside from the fact that it was last done in 1956, only the Federal Constitutional Court is able to ban political parties. So you could argue (and I guess this is what Freedom House does) that it follows the principles of due process and separation of powers. Earlier in this decade there was an attempt made to have the NPD banned by the Constitutional Court. But this attempt backfired and failed in court.

I wasn't criticizing Germany's entirely reasonable stance against neo-Nazi parties, but the fact that people call Israeli democracy into question because, like Germany, it bans parties because of their general stance on democracy and indeed their general stance on the legitimacy of the existence of Israel. And like in Germany, banning parties in Israel is rare and several attempts to ban parties that have clearly violated Israeli law have failed in the past. Both Germany and Israel deserve their high freedom ratings.