NationStates Jolt Archive

I need some help with a piece of coursework I am doing for Univestity. I need to find a site with a list of countries which currently are considered liberal democracies (the world 'liberal' in liberal democracy is not a political persuasion, it is a political system. A system of democracy with freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom of thought & religion etc) and a site with a list of governments that are currently considered to be authoriatarian or effectively authoritarian.

Um. Okay.

Liberal Democracies:
USA
Canada
United Kingdom
Australia
New Zealand
Japan
France
Italy
Germany
Netherlands
Belgium
Ireland

...etc. All of Western Europe. I guess some of Eastern Europe qualifies now too.

Authoritarian:
North Korea (One party, one ruler)
Saudi Arabia (Absolute Monarchy)
Sudan (Military dictatorship)
People's Republic of China (One party, elected ruler)

Do you only want present day examples?

You sure you want to put the USA in the "liberal democracy" category?

Um. Okay.

Liberal Democracies:
USA
Canada
United Kingdom
Australia
New Zealand
Japan
France
Italy
Germany
Netherlands
Belgium
Ireland

...etc. All of Western Europe. I guess some of Eastern Europe qualifies now too.

Authoritarian:
North Korea (One party, one ruler)
Saudi Arabia (Absolute Monarchy)
Sudan (Military dictatorship)
People's Republic of China (One party, elected ruler)

Do you only want present day examples?

Unfortunetly not good enough. I need a source. Referncing some guy off an internet forum in a university essay is not good enough

You sure you want to put the USA in the "liberal democracy" category?

I could argue the point in some ways, but as the US was one of the original pioneers of the concept, I believe so. (Personally, I believe liberal-democracy doesn't go far enough, but that's a topic for another thread)

Unfortunetly not good enough. I need a source. Referncing some guy off an internet forum in a university essay is not good enough

Go look up the requirements for a country to be considered a "liberal democracy". Among other things, they are freedom of speech, freedom of the press, etc. You will likely find a list in any politics textbook from high-school level upwards.

Go look that up, and source *that*, not a list of countries. Use that information to justify calling those particular nations liberal democracies (or argue against them being such if you prefer) - that will form the argument of your essay. University essays must have arguments.

For example: "Because the USA has a constitution that limits government, and free speech is a generally accepted tenet within the nation, it fits the requirements to be a liberal democracy" (I would argue that this isn't all that is required for a liberal democracy, but it's your essay, and that's just an example)

Don't expect to get a good mark if you write along the lines of "This source says these countries are liberal democracies so they are". Again, look up what is generally expected of a liberal democracy, and apply that in practice: does the current political system of the USA in your opinion fit the requirements for a liberal democracy? Argue the point in your essay.

OK, i'm going to bed. If you want more help, i'll check up on this thread tomorrow.

Don't expect to get a good mark if you write along the lines of "This source says these countries are liberal democracies so they are". Again, look up what is generally expected of a liberal democracy, and apply that in practice: does the current political system of the USA in your opinion fit the requirements for a liberal democracy? Argue the point in your essay.


I'm not going to say "This source says these countries are liberal democracies so they are" I'm looking for a source that allready has done the research into the nature of Liberal democracy and classifed them. I'm not an idiot so dont treat me like one. I'm looking for a table of classifcation so I can compare their GNI and then find out if the case that authoritatian governments are poorer than liberal democracies is true. But first I need a source that has done the research that clearly shows which countries are liberal democracies and which arnt

I'm not going to say "This source says these countries are liberal democracies so they are" I'm looking for a source that allready has done the research into the nature of Liberal democracy and classifed them. I'm not an idiot so dont treat me like one. I'm looking for a table of classifcation so I can compare their GNI and then find out if the case that authoritatian governments are poorer than liberal democracies is true. But first I need a source that has done the research that clearly shows which countries are liberal democracies and which arnt

Forgive me; i'm not trying to treat you like an idiot at all, and I apologise if you interpreted my post that way. My point stands, though: it's far better to classify them yourself and justify that than use someone else's classification. It doesn't take much effort to look at what defines a liberal democracy, and then justify the countries you choose to compare. You'll only need a paragraph and your work will be better quality as a result. Feel free to ignore this if you so choose, however....i'm not your teacher. I'm just a fellow politics student trying to give some helpful advice.

I'm also generally loath to use the internet as a source for anything...if you can get a book, that's probably a lot better. In the library of your university, they probably have hundreds of textbooks related to the subject. (Okay, I overstate, but nevertheless, you should not have trouble finding any.)

You might also check to see if your university has access to any online databases, and browse for the subject. If I must use the internet for a source on subjects like this, I find these are fine, because they are simply digitised versions of essays and documents by historians and political scientists. They usually cost a fair bit of money to access, but as a uni student you should get them for free....at least, I do.

That list before I got from the top of my head. I'm reluctant to justify it much further than that or explain how I reached the conclusion that those were liberal-democratic societies, because it is your work, not mine. It's best that you come to those conclusions yourself.

You sure you want to put the USA in the "liberal democracy" category?
Perhaps you would like to try and prove that it shouldn't be? Hmm?

Forgive me; i'm not trying to treat you like an idiot at all, and I apologise if you interpreted my post that way. My point stands, though: it's far better to classify them yourself and justify that than use someone else's classification. It doesn't take much effort to look at what defines a liberal democracy, and then justify the countries you choose to compare. You'll only need a paragraph and your work will be better quality as a result. Feel free to ignore this if you so choose, however....i'm not your teacher. I'm just a fellow politics student trying to give some helpful advice.

I'm also generally loath to use the internet as a source for anything...if you can get a book, that's probably a lot better. In the library of your university, they probably have hundreds of textbooks related to the subject. (Okay, I overstate, but nevertheless, you should not have trouble finding any.)

You might also check to see if your university has access to any online databases, and browse for the subject. If I must use the internet for a source on subjects like this, I find these are fine, because they are simply digitised versions of essays and documents by historians and political scientists. They usually cost a fair bit of money to access, but as a uni student you should get them for free....at least, I do.

That list before I got from the top of my head. I'm reluctant to justify it much further than that or explain how I reached the conclusion that those were liberal-democratic societies, because it is your work, not mine. It's best that you come to those conclusions yourself.

I agree doing my own research would be a good thing, but then I would proberbly have to cite about ten diffrent sources just to make one point. If I cite a genuine academic or offical piece of research, it just makes it easier since their research is self validating. Not being at Uni ATM (over the Christmas break) I cant get access to the Uni Database, so I have problems with that. I've been skimming through various textbooks but so far, most of them are more interested in sitting on the fence and debating issues than they are putting down any weighty actuall facts.

Perhaps you would like to try and prove that it shouldn't be? Hmm?

Isnt it practically impossible to prove negatives? That always seems to be the arguement of the "God does not exist, we dont need to prove it" camp

just pull out some stuff about how the whole world is an oligarchy that way you can just take random events to prove the theory (along with allot of conspiracy sites)

also there is a fine line between liberal democracy and tyranny by majority since the right for the people to choose what they want in the government is vital to it thus I say don't do it in protest/laziness

have you checked out the CIA world facts page yet?
just search yahoo or google for cia world facts and it should be towards the top.
it should have what you're looking for

I agree doing my own research would be a good thing, but then I would proberbly have to cite about ten diffrent sources just to make one point. If I cite a genuine academic or offical piece of research, it just makes it easier since their research is self validating. Not being at Uni ATM (over the Christmas break) I cant get access to the Uni Database, so I have problems with that. I've been skimming through various textbooks but so far, most of them are more interested in sitting on the fence and debating issues than they are putting down any weighty actuall facts.

Hm, that's odd. Can you access the databases via. your library catalogue online? Even though i'm not in semester again until March, I can still do it with my university.

I can't really help you beyond that...I can't really dig up anything useful or reliable from brief searches on google.


also there is a fine line between liberal democracy and tyranny by majority since the right for the people to choose what they want in the government is vital to it thus I say don't do it in protest/laziness

I disagree; liberal democracy by its nature is limited democracy. The people can't vote for something that is unconstitutional and are bound by the rule of law in all that they do. By their nature, they are representative democracies: If elected representatives want a law that is very unpopular to pass, they still have the power to do so, and vice versa: they can stop ones that have the support of the population. It's not really close tyranny of the majority by any stretch of the imagination, and in my opinion is indeed somewhat oligarchical.