




  • 15
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    This index is pretty absurd though, for example Greece, France, Italy, Israel, Slovakia, Poland, India, Hungary are "flawed democracies" – Vanessa Oct 15 '11 at 15:44
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Since Samuel Huntington is quite popular in political science (which I guess the BBC derived its source from), I suspect that this group of 11 democracies is based on Huntington's thesis of Third Wave Democracy.



The first wave had its worst year in 1942, where there were only a few states which remained democratic:

  1. Finland
  2. Iceland
  3. Ireland
  4. Sweden
  5. Switzerland
  6. United Kingdom
  7. Australia
  8. Canada
  9. New Zealand
  10. United States
  11. Chile


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    Finland was a dictatorship. – Anixx Feb 2 '18 at 11:36
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    @Anixx - How so? – T.E.D. Feb 2 '18 at 15:56



Parliamentary Democray

  • Switzerland (1802)
  • Haiti (1860)
  • Finland (1919)
  • Turkey (1923)
  • Ireland (1936)
  • Lebanon (1941)

That makes it - 6

Presidential System of Democracy

Constitutional Monarchy


That makes it - 10

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    1688 for the UK is strange date (the Glorious Revolution), up until 100 years ago vast parts of the country could not vote at all (e.g. women (until 1918 (or 1930), people who didn't own land (1918), catholics (1829), etc.), as such it's a strange interpretation of "democracy" when only 1 out of 6 adult males could vote. – Rory Oct 15 '11 at 12:22
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    @Anixx, have you ever heard of the Magna Carta? The lords of England started curtailing the power of the British king over 800 years ago... The British monarch is nothing more then a figurehead today. – Ryan Jan 4 '17 at 19:50



Ireland (1936)... I don’t want to open a can of worms but there are good arguments for that to read any of the following

Parliamentary Democracy: Ireland (1922) Ireland (1937) (One could also argue that it transitioned in 1949)

Constitutional Monarchy: Ireland (1922) Ireland (1936) Ireland (1937)

It depends how you define constitutional monarchy. Ireland was definitely one in 1922 (or at least was the same as U.K. and Canada). In 1936 a new constitution was established, which transferred some powers of the King (delegated to the Governor General) to the new President (effective 1937) However the King remained head of state officially (particularly when it came to foreign affairs and diplomatic relations) and Ireland remained in the Commonwealth.

The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 made Ireland a republic and removed any remaining powers of the King (automatically leaving the Commonwealth). At that point, Ireland was (and remains) a parliamentary democracy with an elected President as head of state (similar to Italy and Germany today) and with the president as the guardian of the constitution.

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    Welcome to History SE. Sources would improve this answer and increase the likelihood of people responding positively to your post. – Lars Bosteen Feb 2 '18 at 3:42
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    I'm not sure that this actually answers the question that was asked - it appears to be an extended comment about the state of Ireland. – Steve Bird Feb 2 '18 at 6:10

protected by Semaphore Feb 2 '18 at 9:26


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