Watch the video and answer the following questions:
1. What 5 categories is the index of democracy measured by:- Electoral process
- Rule on people’s behalf
- Political pluralism
- The functioning of government
- Civil liberties
- Independent courts
- Political participation
- Political culture
2. What is the most/least democratic country in the world?
3. What percentage of countries is full, consolidated and mature democracies?
4. Why can’t people take democracy for granted any more?
5. If democracy retreats, why is political participation going up?
6. What is the most improved indicator of democracy?

the text: THE DEMOCRACY INDEX
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The Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index
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seeks to measure the health of democracy
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in pretty much all the countries around the world.
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It breaks this down into five categories.
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The electoral process, the functioning of government,
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civil liberties, political participation,
CIVIL LIBERTIES POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
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and political culture.
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The scores range from Norway
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which we rate as the most democratic country on Earth
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all the way down to North Korea,
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a hereditary communist monarchy
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which is by far the least.
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Although the world has obviously gotten
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a lot more democratic
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over the past century and the past 30 years
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since the end of the Cold War
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but since the EIU started measuring it
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which was in 2006, things appear to have regressed somewhat.
IS DEMOCRACY IN DANGER?
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Today roughly half the world's people live
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in some form of democracy
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but by our rather strict measurements,
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only about 5% live in what we call a full democracy
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and a good third or so live in solid authoritarian regimes
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with a big portion of that in China.
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One of the less gloomy findings
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is that political participation seems to be up.
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This is probably related
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to a widespread feeling in a lot of countries
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that democracy's under threat,
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that the threats of fake news,
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subversion by foreign powers
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such as Russia and the rise of authoritarian leaders
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from Hungary to Poland
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to all kinds of places
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means that people can't take democracy for granted anymore
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and so, you'll see a lot more people demonstrating
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in the streets, getting out to vote and organizing online.
WOMEN IN POLITICS
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The most improved indicator
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was to do with women's participation in politics.
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Partly that reflects a genuine improvement
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in the status of women
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and the increased likelihood
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that voters are prepared to vote for them.
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Alas it also represents a certain amount
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of gaming the system particularly
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by authoritarian regimes,
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Rwanda, for example, has a majority female parliament
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which sounds great until you realize
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that the parliament has no power whatsoever
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and the president is very much male.
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It might seem like a paradox
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that even as democracy retreats around the world,
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political participation has gone up
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but it's not, it's a reaction against the fact
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that more and more people
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are aware that they are in danger of losing some
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of their democratic freedoms
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and they're not prepared to take that lying down.
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They're getting out there,
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they're voting more, they're organizing online
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and sometimes they're demonstrating in the streets.
ELECTIONS TO WATCH IN 2019
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The biggest election in 2019
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will be in India.
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As always it will be the biggest election
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held anywhere ever.
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The fact that we don't know who's going to win
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maybe the incumbent party,
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maybe the opposition,
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gives you a sense that it really will represent roughly
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the will of a billion people.
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Another big one to watch is Nigeria.
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That will be incredibly corrupt
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and quite a few people will get killed
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but it's worth remembering
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that only a couple of decades ago,
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Nigeria was a dictatorship,
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that's not true anymore
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and despite the absence of a dictator,
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Nigeria has held together despite all predictions.
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It's another fine example, in fact,
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of how democracy does have the ability
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to hold disparate countries together
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because it reflects the will of the actual voters.
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And a final big election to watch
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is for the European Parliament.
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And here we don't even know which countries
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are gonna participate,
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so we don't know whether Britain's gonna be part
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of it or not.
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So, all eyes are gonna be watching,
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will the European Union hold together,
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will the rise of the populists
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and the nationalists continue?
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And my guess is that actually they've peaked
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and this could be the start of their retreat.