• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Big Picture>
  3. big picture>

Low scores for U.S. government in two global scorecards

Sara Swann
Bill Theobald
https://twitter.com/saramswann?lang=en
January 23, 2020
map of coins

Two annual report cards out this week offer some sobering context for those who might instinctively believe that the United States is the best democracy in the world.

wragg/Getty Images

When it comes to democracy, sometimes Americans believe they not only invented the idea, they perfected it.

But two respected annual report cards out this week — one looking at democracy and the other at its anathema, governmental corruption — offer some sobering context for those who might instinctively believe that the United States is going to be naturally at the top of the heap.

The latest corruption study, by the venerable global watchdog group Transparency International, finds trust in the United States' political system at an all-time low and that government corruption has become a major concern for most Americans. The newest report on the state of global democracy by the Economist finds the United States dropping steadily in the last decade when compared with other countries.


American corruption on the rise

Since 1995, Transparency International has published its Corruption Perceptions Index, which analyzes corruption around the world. Countries are ranked from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Overall, two-thirds of the countries scored 50 or lower, with the average being 43.

For the second year in a row, it found corruption in the United States on the rise. For 2019, the country received a score of 69, a two-point drop from the year before and its worst score in a decade. Because France got the same score, both were ranked No. 23 out of the 180 countries included in the index.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

The United States faces many challenges, the group notes, including threats to its system of checks and balances, the growing influence of special interests and the use of anonymous shell companies to hide illicit activities.

"While President Trump campaigned on a promise of 'draining the swamp' and making government work for more than just Washington insiders and political elites, a series of scandals, resignations and allegations of unethical behaviour suggest that the 'pay-to-play' culture has only become more entrenched," the group reported.

No country received a perfect score, although Denmark and New Zealand came closest with an 87. Other highly ranked countries include Finland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland.

At the very bottom is Somalia, with a score of 9. Venezuela, Yemen, Syria and South Sudan were also among the most corrupt.

American democracy on the decline

Meanwhile the United States has only the 25th best democracy in the world, far from the "We're No. 1!" shouting of the typically prideful American view, according to the 14th annual Democracy Index published this week by the Economist Intelligence Unit, an arm of the British-based company that publishes the Economist magazine.

That ranking places the United States among the countries considered to be "flawed democracies" in 2019.

The good news is that the country's score of 7.96 (on a scale of 10) is the same as in 2018. But its score and ranking fell steadily during the past decade. In 2010 it was No. 17.

Still, North America retains the highest average score (8.59) of any region in the Democracy Index. That was thanks to Canada, with a score of 9.22 that pulled the region to the top.

The United States received a 9.17 for electoral process and pluralism but was dragged down by a 7.14 for functioning of government.

Americans' support for democracy remains strong, the report acknowledges, but adds that "popular dissatisfaction with how democracy is working in practice, both in terms of government dysfunction and a lack of political representation by the two main parties, has grown in recent years."

And where do the British authors rank their own country? No. 14, in the top tier of countries considered "full democracies." This from a country that still has a monarch as head of state and a Parliament paralyzed for much of the year over how to extract the country from the European Union

Overall, democracy is on the decline among the 165 independent states and two territories covered in the report. In fact, the average global score for democracy of 5.44 is the lowest since the index was first produced in 2006.

The top scorer was Norway. The rest of the top tier looked like a podium at the Winter Olympics: Sweden was No. 3, Finland No. 5 and Denmark and Canada tied for 7th. At the bottom was North Korea with a 1.08 — the latest reminder that President Trump sending a birthday card to Kim Jong-un was pretty unusual. (Russia, by the way, tied for 134th — which is 19 places ahead of China.)

From Your Site Articles
  • CLC poll identifies political corruption as biggest problem - The ... ›
  • U.S. seen as more corrupt in 2020 - The Fulcrum ›
  • U.S. rated a 'flawed democracy' for 5th straight year - The Fulcrum ›
  • Report: U.S. contributes to decline of freedom worldwide - The Fulcrum ›
  • Why democracy needs good news - The Fulcrum ›
  • Officials scored on efforts to find common ground - The Fulcrum ›
  • Report: American democracy is backsliding - The Fulcrum ›
  • What is your take? - The Fulcrum ›
  • Report: U.S. no longer among 25 least corrupt contries - The Fulcrum ›
  • U.S. remains a ‘flawed democracy’ in annual rankings - The Fulcrum ›
  • Here's how we restore American democracy - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • US Hits New Low in Global Corruption Index ›
  • U.S. Slips In Annual Global Corruption Rankings : NPR ›
  • A new study shows American democracy is getting weaker. And not ... ›
big picture

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

Podcast: Collage: The promise of Black History Month

Our Staff
8h

Steward leadership

David L. Nevins
12h

Sharing a common fate

Kevin Frazier
12h

Flame retardants in your earbuds? Toxic chemicals in homes? Left and right are sick of It.

Joan Blades
John Gable
31 January

What can replace religion for peace of mind and shared moral values?

Daniel O. Jamison
31 January

Part IV: Reforming constitutional convention campaigns

J.H. Snider
30 January
Videos

Video: How the baby boom changed American politics

Our Staff

Video: What the speakership election tells us about the 118th Congress webinar

Our Staff

Video: We need more bipartisan commitment to democracy: Pennsylvania governor

Our Staff

Video: Meet the citizen activists championing primary reform

Our Staff

Video: Veterans for Political Innovation - Who we are

Our Staff

Video: Want to fight polarization? Take a vacation!

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Collage: The promise of Black History Month

Our Staff
8h

Podcast: Separating news from noise

Our Staff
30 January

Podcast: Deepening democracy in the states

Our Staff
27 January

Podcast: How the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack impacted politics

Our Staff
26 January
Recommended
Podcast: Collage: The promise of Black History Month

Podcast: Collage: The promise of Black History Month

Podcasts
Steward leadership

Steward leadership

Big Picture
Sharing a common fate

Sharing a common fate

Big Picture
Video: How the baby boom changed American politics

Video: How the baby boom changed American politics

Flame retardants in your earbuds? Toxic chemicals in homes? Left and right are sick of It.

Flame retardants in your earbuds? Toxic chemicals in homes? Left and right are sick of It.

Big Picture
What can replace religion for peace of mind and shared moral values?

What can replace religion for peace of mind and shared moral values?

Big Picture