A central premise of Democracy Web is that one of the best means for teaching about democracy is through comparative study of democracy's principles, history and current practice. Each Study Guide unit includes three Country Studies, one each for the three categories in Freedom House’s annual survey ─ “Free,” “Partially Free” and “Not Free.” (The Country Study of the United States is in the last unit, Freedom of Religion.) They may be accessed below individually (in alphabetical order) or by category.
BOTSWANA COUNTRY STUDY: Accountability and Transparency
Status: Free
| Political Rights: 28/40 | Civil Liberties: 44/60
Botswana is Africa’s oldest continuous multiparty democracy, having held uninterrupted free elections since gaining independence in 1966.
CHILE COUNTRY STUDY: Freedom of Association
Status: Free
| Political Rights: 38/40 | Civil Liberties: 56/60
Chile, a country that spans a long length of territory on the Pacific Coast of South America, is a unitary presidential republic.
ESTONIA COUNTRY STUDY: Economic Freedom
Status: Free
| Political Rights: 38/40 | Civil Liberties: 57/60
Estonia, among the world’s most free and economically dynamic countries, has a parliamentary system with a unicameral legislature.
FRANCE COUNTRY STUDY: Constitutional Limits on Government
Status: Free
| Political Rights: 38/40 | Civil Liberties: 51/60
France has a mixed presidential-parliamentary government. Its history encompasses periods of absolutism, revolution, empire, constitutional monarchy and republicanism.
GERMANY COUNTRY STUDY: Rule of Law
Status: Free
| Political Rights: 39/40 | Civil Liberties: 54/60
The Federal Republic of Germany has a parliamentary democracy and a federal state, and has become one of the freer nations in the world.
ISRAEL COUNTRY STUDY: The Multiparty System
Status: Free
| Political Rights: 34/40 | Civil Liberties: 40/60
Israel's multiparty system is highly diverse, including representation for minority populations. But in recent years Israel’s democracy has faced a range of challenges.
NETHERLANDS COUNTRY STUDY: Majority Rule, Minority Rights
Status: Free
| Political Rights: 39/40 | Civil Liberties: 58/60
Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy with unitary structure.
NETHERLANDS COUNTRY STUDY: Freedom of Expression
Status: Free
| Political Rights: 39/40 | Civil Liberties: 58/60
The Netherlands has a long history of free media, free political debate, free and fair elections and pluralist political competition. That tradition continues.
POLAND COUNTRY STUDY: Free, Fair & Regular Elections
Status: Free
| Political Rights: 33/40 | Civil Liberties: 47/60
Since 1989, Poland has been a free and sovereign country following more than two centuries of foreign domination, occupation, and control.
SOUTH AFRICA COUNTRY STUDY: Consent of the Governed
Status: Free
| Political Rights: 33/40 | Civil Liberties: 46/60
South Africa is a constitutional republic and parliamentary democracy whose president is chosen by the National Assembly, the popularly elected lower house of a bicameral legislature.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA COUNTRY STUDY: Freedom of Religion
Status: Free
| Political Rights: 33/40 | Civil Liberties: 50/60
The United States is a constitutional republic with a presidential system. It is the world's oldest representative democracy among nation states.