Government > Democracy and rights Stats: compare key data on Germany & Switzerland
Definitions
- Democracy Index: DI 2012.
- Democracy Index per million people: DI 2012. Figures expressed per million people for the same year.
- Electoral system: Political scientist Robert A. Dahl compares the constitutions of countries which have been “steadily democratic since 1950” on the characteristic of electoral system (First Past the Post electoral system; Single-Member District Plurality, also known as First Past the Post (FPTP): There is one seat per district, the candidate with the most votes wins it; Proportional Representation: There are multiple seats for each voting district, allocation is based on either party lists, multi-member proportional (MMP), single transferable vote (STV) or semi-PR; FrenchTtwo-RoundSsystem; Alternative Vote (AV)).
- Freedom of the press: Compares countries by freedom of the press. The lower the score, the more free the press of that country is. The scores are taken from the Freedom of the Press Index, elaborated by Freedom House, self-defined as "an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom around the world". The data used in the index come from an annual survey of media independence in 197 countries and territories, assessing the degree of print, broadcast, and internet freedom in each of them.
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Last election:
Last election.
No date was available from the Wikipedia article, so we used the date of retrieval.
- Nationalist party (percent of vote): This list shows the percentage of votes obtained by nationalist parties across Europe at the latest elections held in their respective countries. Note that the percentages show the votes from all the parties combined, and only for general elections (some parties may obtain a quite higher percentage in regional elections). Nationalist parties usually hold right-wing populist views, and among their common demands are a higher control of immigration, extended social/labor rights for country nationals, and a restriction of islamic customs -such as the veil or the construction of mosques-, though their ideologies and goals vary from country to country. Some parties have as their main goal the seggregation of a region from its parent country (with examples in Scotland, Catalonia and Northern Ireland). Most of nationalist parties with elected members in the European Parliament belong to the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group.
- Nationalist vote: Percentage of votes at the most recent national election that went to parties with a nationalist ideology.
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Next election:
Next election.
No date was available from the Wikipedia article, so we used the date of retrieval.
- Party system: Political scientist Robert A. Dahl compares the constitutions of countries which have been “steadily democratic since 1950” on the characteristic of party system (two-party or multi-party).
- Press freedom index: Compares countries by their degree of government censorship, according to the Press freedom index. This index, created by the non-governmental organization Reporters without borders (RWS), is ellaborated using data from an extensive annual survey sent to professional reporters throughout the world. The survey contains questions about the type and ownership of media present in the country, freedom of speech, violence exerted against reporters, election campaigns, access of political parties to the media, etc.
- Strong judicial review?: Political scientist Robert A. Dahl compares the constitutions of countries which have been “steadily democratic since 1950” on the characteristic of judicial review, which is the power to declare unconstitutional laws duly passed by parliament and/or signed by the president. (As distinct from the ability to strike down acts of subordinate governments, such as states or provinces. (Strong judicial review or no strong judicial review).
- Strongly federal?: Political scientist Robert A. Dahl compares the constitutions of countries which have been “steadily democratic since 1950” on the characteristic of federalism (strongly federal or not strongly federal).
- Structure: Political scientist Robert A. Dahl compares the constitutions of countries which have been “steadily democratic since 1950” on the characteristic of structure (presidential or parliamentary).
- Votes for nationalist parties: Absolute number of votes at the most recent national election that went to parties with a nationalist ideology.
- Year women first voted at national level: Year women first voted at national level.
SOURCES: Wikipedia: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (Indicators) ("Democracy Index 2012" (PDF). The Economist. March 2013 . Retrieved 2013-03-21 .); Wikipedia: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (Indicators) ("Democracy Index 2012" (PDF). The Economist. March 2013 . Retrieved 2013-03-21 .). Population figures from World Bank: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects, (2) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years), (3) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (4) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (5) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme, and (6) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database.; How Democratic is the American Constitution? Robert A. Dahl.2001. ISBN 0-300-09218-0. Table 1.; "2012 Freedom of the Press Data" , Freedom House, 1 May 2012; Wikipedia: List of next general elections (Africa); Wikipedia: List of active nationalist parties in Europe (National); Wikipedia: Censorship by country (Censorship by country) ("Press Freedom Index 2013" , Reporters Without Borders, 30 January 2013); Wikipedia: Women's suffrage (Summary)
