Wikipedia

Freedom in the World

For overview of democracy indices, see List of democracy indices.

Freedom in the World is a yearly survey and report by the U.S.-based non-governmental organization Freedom House that measures the degree of civil liberties and political rights in every nation and significant related and disputed territories around the world.[2]

2022[1]
1972
  Free   Partly Free   Not Free   Not Covered

Origin and use

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Freedom in the World was launched in 1973 by Raymond Gastil. It produces annual scores representing the levels of political rights and civil liberties in each state and territory, on a scale from 1 (most free) to 7 (least free). Depending on the ratings, the nations are then classified as "Free", "Partly Free", or "Not Free".[3] The report is often used by researchers in order to measure democracy and correlates highly with several other measures of democracy such as the Polity data series.[4]

The Freedom House rankings are widely reported in the media and used as sources by political researchers. Their construction and use has been evaluated by critics and supporters.[5]

Country rankings

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   Countries designated "electoral democracies" in Freedom House's Freedom in the World 2023 survey, covering the year 2022.[6]

The rankings are from the Freedom in the World 2019,[7] 2020,[8] 2021,[9] and 2022 surveys, each report covering the previous year. The average of each pair of ratings on political rights and civil liberties determines the overall status of "Free" (1.0–2.5), "Partly Free" (3.0–5.0), or "Not Free" (5.5–7.0).[10]

An asterisk (*) indicates countries which are "electoral democracies". To qualify as an "electoral democracy", a state must have satisfied the following criteria:

  1. A competitive, multiparty political system;
  2. Adult suffrage for all citizens without criminal convictions (some states may further punish and subjugate people with criminal convictions by disenfranchising them from the democratic process);
  3. Regularly contested elections conducted in conditions of ballot secrecy, reasonable ballot security, and the absence of massive voter fraud that yields results that are unrepresentative of the public will; and
  4. Significant public access of major political parties to the electorate through the media and through generally open political campaigning.

An electoral democracy must have a score of 7 or more out of 12 in political rights subcategory A (Electoral Progress), an overall aggregate score of 20 in their political rights rating and an overall aggregate score of 30 in their civil liberties rating.[11]

Freedom House's term "electoral democracy" differs from "liberal democracy" in that the latter also implies the presence of a substantial array of civil liberties. In the survey, all Free countries qualify as both electoral and liberal democracies. By contrast, some Partly Free countries qualify as electoral, but not liberal, democracies.[10]

World

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* indicates "Civil liberties in country or territory" or "Human rights in country or territory" links.

PR = political rights, CL = civil liberties

2024

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Country (2024)
PR Rating[12] CL Rating[12] Total PR CL Free
Afghanistan 7 7 6 1 5 Not free
Albania 3 3 68 28 40 Partly free
Algeria 6 5 32 10 22 Not free
Andorra 1 1 93 38 55 Free
Angola 6 5 28 10 18 Not free
Antigua and Barbuda 2 2 85 33 52 Free
Argentina 2 2 85 36 50 Free
Armenia 4 4 54 23 31 Partly free
Australia 1 1 95 38 57 Free
Austria 1 1 93 37 56 Free
Azerbaijan 7 7 7 0 7 Not free
Bahamas 1 1 91 38 53 Free
Bahrain 7 6 12 2 10 Not free
Bangladesh 5 5 40 15 25 Partly free
Barbados 1 1 94 37 57 Free
Belarus 7 7 8 2 6 Not free
Belgium 1 1 96 39 57 Free
Belize 2 1 87 34 53 Free
Benin 4 3 61 19 42 Partly free
Bhutan 2 4 63 30 33 Partly free
Bolivia 3 3 66 27 39 Partly free
Bosnia and Herzegovina 5 4 51 17 34 Partly free
Botswana 3 2 72 28 44 Free
Brazil 2 3 72 30 42 Free
Brunei 6 5 28 7 21 Not free
Bulgaria 2 2 78 32 46 Free
Burkina Faso 7 5 27 3 24 Not free
Burundi 7 6 14 4 10 Not free
Cape Verde 1 1 92 38 54 Free
Cambodia 7 5 23 4 19 Not free
Cameroon 6 6 15 6 9 Not free
Canada 1 1 97 39 58 Free
Central African Republic 7 7 5 1 4 Not free
Chad 7 6 15 1 14 Not free
Chile 1 1 94 38 56 Free
China 7 6 9 -2 11 Not free
Colombia 2 3 70 31 39 Free
Comoros 5 4 42 16 26 Partly free
Costa Rica 1 1 91 38 53 Free
Croatia 2 2 83 34 49 Free
Cuba 7 6 12 1 11 Not free
Cyprus 1 1 92 38 54 Free
Czech Republic 1 1 94 36 58 Free
Democratic Republic of the Congo 7 6 19 4 15 Not free
Denmark 1 1 97 40 57 Free
Djibouti 7 5 24 5 19 Not free
Dominica 1 1 93 37 56 Free
Dominican Republic 3 3 68 27 41 Partly free
East Timor 72 33 39 Free
Ecuador 3 3 67 29 38 Partly free
Egypt 6 6 18 6 12 Not free
El Salvador 4 4 53 21 32 Partly free
Equatorial Guinea 7 7 5 0 5 Not free
Eritrea 7 7 3 1 2 Not free
Estonia 1 1 95 38 57 Free
Eswatini 7 6 17 1 16 Not free
Ethiopia 6 6 20 10 10 Not free
Fiji 3 3 66 27 39 Partly free
Finland 1 1 100 40 60 Free
France 1 2 89 38 51 Free
Gabon 7 5 20 2 18 Not free
Gambia 50 22 28 Partly free
Georgia 4 3 58 22 36 Partly free
Germany 1 1 93 39 54 Free
Ghana 2 2 80 35 45 Free
Greece 2 2 85 35 50 Free
Grenada 1 2 89 37 52 Free
Guatemala 5 4 46 17 29 Partly free
Guinea 6 5 30 7 23 Not free
Guinea-Bissau 5 4 43 17 26 Partly free
Guyana 2 3 73 30 43 Free
Haiti 6 5 30 11 19 Not free
Honduras 4 4 48 22 26 Partly free
Hungary 3 3 65 24 41 Partly free
Iceland 1 1 94 37 57 Free
India 2 4 66 33 33 Partly free
Indonesia 3 4 57 29 28 Partly free
Iran 7 7 11 4 7 Not free
Iraq 5 6 30 16 14 Not free
Ireland 1 1 97 39 58 Free
Israel 2 3 74 34 40 Free
Italy 1 1 90 36 54 Free
Ivory Coast 4 4 49 19 30 Partly free
Jamaica 2 2 80 33 47 Free
Japan 1 1 96 40 56 Free
Jordan 6 5 33 11 22 Not free
Kazakhstan 7 5 23 5 18 Not free
Kenya 4 4 52 22 30 Partly free
Kiribati 1 1 90 37 53 Free
Kosovo 3 4 60 28 32 Partly free
Kuwait 5 5 38 14 24 Partly free
Kyrgyzstan 7 5 27 4 23 Not free
Laos 7 6 13 2 11 Not free
Latvia 1 2 88 37 51 Free
Lebanon 5 4 42 13 29 Partly free
Lesotho 2 3 66 30 36 Free
Liberia 2 4 64 30 34 Partly free
Libya 7 6 9 1 8 Not free
Liechtenstein 2 1 90 33 53 Free
Lithuania 1 2 89 38 51 Free
Luxembourg 1 1 97 38 59 Free
Madagascar 3 4 58 24 34 Partly free
Malawi 3 3 66 29 37 Partly free
Malaysia 4 4 53 22 31 Partly free
Maldives 4 5 44 21 23 Partly free
Mali 6 5 26 6 20 Not free
Malta 2 2 87 35 52 Free
Marshall Islands 1 1 93 38 55 Free
Mauritania 5 5 39 15 24 Partly free
Mauritius 2 2 85 35 50 Free
Mexico 3 4 60 27 33 Partly free
Micronesia 1 1 92 37 55 Free
Moldova 3 3 61 26 35 Partly free
Monaco 3 1 82 25 57 Free
Mongolia 1 2 84 36 48 Free
Montenegro 3 3 69 27 42 Partly free
Morocco 5 5 37 13 24 Partly free
Mozambique 5 4 44 14 30 Partly free
Myanmar 7 6 8 0 8 Not free
Namibia 2 2 77 31 46 Free
Nauru 2 3 77 34 43 Free
Nepal 3 4 62 28 34 Partly free
Netherlands 1 1 97 39 58 Free
New Zealand 1 1 99 40 59 Free
Nicaragua 7 6 16 4 12 Not free
Niger 6 4 33 6 27 Partly free
Nigeria 4 5 44 20 24 Partly free
North Korea 7 7 3 0 3 Not free
North Macedonia 3 3 67 28 39 Partly free
Norway 1 1 98 39 59 Free
Oman 6 5 24 6 18 Not free
Pakistan 5 5 35 14 21 Partly free
Palau 1 1 92 37 55 Free
Panama 2 2 83 35 48 Free
Papua New Guinea 4 3 61 22 39 Partly free
Paraguay 3 3 63 26 37 Partly free
Peru 3 3 66 27 39 Partly free
Philippines 3 4 58 25 33 Partly free
Poland 2 2 80 33 47 Free
Portugal 1 1 96 39 57 Free
Qatar 6 5 25 7 18 Not free
Republic of the Congo 7 6 17 2 15 Not free
Romania 2 2 83 35 48 Free
Russia 7 6 13 4 9 Not free
Rwanda 6 6 23 8 15 Not free
Samoa 2 2 84 32 52 Free
San Marino 1 1 97 39 58 Free
São Tomé and Príncipe 2 2 84 35 49 Free
Saudi Arabia 7 7 8 1 7 Not free
Senegal 3 3 67 28 39 Partly free
Serbia 4 3 57 18 39 Partly free
Seychelles 2 2 79 34 45 Free
Sierra Leone 3 3 60 24 36 Partly free
Singapore 4 4 48 19 29 Partly free
Slovakia 1 1 90 37 53 Free
Slovenia 1 1 96 39 57 Free
Solomon Islands 3 2 75 28 47 Free
Somalia 7 7 8 2 6 Not free
South Africa 2 2 79 33 46 Free
South Korea 2 2 83 33 50 Free
South Sudan 7 7 1 -3 4 Not free
Spain 1 1 90 37 53 Free
Sri Lanka 4 4 54 22 33 Partly free
Saint Kitts and Nevis 2 1 89 35 54 Free
Saint Lucia 1 1 92 38 54 Free
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1 1 90 36 54 Free
Sudan 7 6 6 -3 9 Not free
Suriname 2 2 79 34 45 Free
Sweden 1 1 99 40 59 Free
Switzerland 1 1 96 39 57 Free
Syria 7 7 1 -3 4 Not free
Tajikistan 7 7 5 0 5 Not free
Tanzania 5 5 36 12 24 Partly free
Thailand 5 5 36 12 24 Partly free
Togo 5 4 42 15 27 Partly free
Tonga 2 2 81 31 50 Free
Trinidad and Tobago 2 2 82 33 49 Free
Tunisia 5 3 51 16 35 Partly free
Turkey 5 6 33 17 16 Not free
Turkmenistan 7 7 2 0 2 Not free
Tuvalu 1 1 93 37 56 Free
Uganda 6 5 34 10 24 Not free
Ukraine 4 4 49 21 28 Partly free
United Arab Emirates 7 6 18 5 13 Not free
United Kingdom 1 1 91 38 53 Free
United States 2 2 83 33 50 Free
Uruguay 1 1 96 40 56 Free
Uzbekistan 7 6 12 2 10 Not free
Vanuatu 2 2 82 32 50 Free
Venezuela 7 6 15 1 14 Not free
Vietnam 7 6 19 4 15 Not free
Yemen 7 6 10 1 9 Not free
Zambia 4 4 54 23 31 Partly free
Zimbabwe 6 5 27 10 17 Not free

Before 2024

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Country Electoral democracy 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
PR CL Free Pts PR CL Free Pts PR CL Free Pts PR CL Free Pts PR CL Free Pts
  Afghanistan * No 5 6 Not 27 5 6 Not 27 5 6 Not 27 7 7 Not 2
  Albania * Yes 3 3 Partly 68 3 3 Partly 67 3 3 Partly 66 3 3 Partly 67
  Algeria * No 6 5 Not 34 6 5 Not 34 6 5 Not 32 6 5 Not 32
  Andorra * Yes 1 1 Free 94 1 1 Free 94 1 1 Free 93 1 1 Free 93
  Angola * No 6 5 Not 31 6 5 Not 32 6 5 Not 31 6 5 Not 30
  Antigua and Barbuda Yes 2 2 Free 84 2 2 Free 85 2 2 Free 85 2 2 Free 85
  Argentina * Yes 2 2 Free 84 2 2 Free 85 2 2 Free 84 2 2 Free 84
  Armenia * No 4 4 Partly 51 4 4 Partly 53 4 4 Partly 55 4 4 Partly 55
  Australia * Yes 1 1 Free 98 1 1 Free 97 1 1 Free 97 1 1 Free 95
  Austria * Yes 1 1 Free 93 1 1 Free 93 1 1 Free 93 1 1 Free 93
  Azerbaijan * No 7 6 Not 11 7 6 Not 10 7 6 Not 10 7 6 Not 9
  Bahamas Yes 1 1 Free 91 1 1 Free 91 1 1 Free 91 1 1 Free 91
  Bahrain * No 7 6 Not 12 7 6 Not 11 7 6 Not 12 7 6 Not 12
  Bangladesh * No 5 5 Partly 41 5 5 Partly 39 5 5 Partly 39 5 5 Partly 39
  Barbados Yes 1 1 Free 96 1 1 Free 95 1 1 Free 95 1 1 Free 95
  Belarus * No 7 6 Not 19 7 6 Not 19 7 6 Not 11 7 7 Not 8
  Belgium * Yes 1 1 Free 96 1 1 Free 96 1 1 Free 96 1 1 Free 96
  Belize * Yes 1 2 Free 86 2 2 Free 86 2 1 Free 87 2 1 Free 87
  Benin * No 2 2 Free 79 4 2 Partly 66 4 2 Partly 65 5 3 Partly 59
  Bhutan * Yes 3 4 Partly 59 3 4 Partly 59 2 4 Partly 61 3 4 Partly 61
  Bolivia * Yes 3 3 Partly 67 3 3 Partly 63 3 3 Partly 66 3 3 Partly 66
  Bosnia and Herzegovina * No 4 4 Partly 53 4 4 Partly 53 4 4 Partly 53 4 4 Partly 53
  Botswana * Yes 3 2 Free 72 3 2 Free 72 3 2 Free 72 3 2 Free 72
  Brazil * Yes 2 2 Free 75 2 2 Free 75 2 3 Free 74 2 3 Free 73
  Brunei * No 6 5 Not 29 6 5 Not 28 6 5 Not 28 6 5 Not 28
  Bulgaria * Yes 2 2 Free 80 2 2 Free 80 2 2 Free 78 2 2 Free 79
  Burkina Faso * Yes 4 3 Partly 60 4 4 Partly 56 4 4 Partly 54 4 4 Partly 53
  Burundi * No 7 6 Not 14 7 6 Not 13 7 6 Not 14 7 6 Not 14
  Cambodia * No 6 5 Not 26 7 5 Not 25 7 5 Not 24 7 5 Not 24
  Cameroon * No 6 6 Not 19 6 6 Not 18 6 6 Not 16 6 6 Not 15
  Canada * Yes 1 1 Free 99 1 1 Free 98 1 1 Free 98 1 1 Free 98
  Cape Verde * Yes 1 1 Free 90 1 1 Free 92 1 1 Free 92 1 1 Free 92
  Central African Republic * No 7 7 Not 9 7 7 Not 10 7 7 Not 9 7 7 Not 7
  Chad * No 7 6 Not 17 7 6 Not 17 7 6 Not 17 7 6 Not 15
  Chile * Yes 1 1 Free 94 1 2 Free 90 1 1 Free 93 1 1 Free 94
  China * No 7 6 Not 11 7 6 Not 10 7 6 Not 9 7 6 Not 9
  Colombia * Yes 3 3 Partly 66 3 3 Partly 66 3 3 Partly 65 3 3 Partly 64
  Comoros * No 4 4 Partly 50 4 4 Partly 44 5 4 Partly 42 5 4 Partly 42
  DR Congo * No 7 6 Not 15 7 6 Not 18 7 6 Not 20
  Congo * No 7 5 Not 21 7 5 Not 20 7 5 Not 20
  Costa Rica * Yes 1 1 Free 91 1 1 Free 91 1 1 Free 91
  Croatia * Yes 1 2 Free 85 1 2 Free 85 1 2 Free 85
  Cuba * No 7 6 Not 14 7 6 Not 14 7 6 Not 13
  Cyprus * Yes 1 1 Free 94 1 1 Free 94 1 1 Free 94
  Czech Republic * Yes 1 1 Free 91 1 1 Free 91 1 1 Free 91
  Denmark * Yes 1 1 Free 97 1 1 Free 97 1 1 Free 97
  Djibouti * No 6 5 Not 26 7 5 Not 24 7 5 Not 24
  Dominica Yes 1 1 Free 93 1 1 Free 93 1 1 Free 93
  Dominican Republic * Yes 3 3 Partly 67 3 3 Partly 67 3 3 Partly 67
  East Timor * Yes 2 3 Free 70 2 3 Free 71 2 3 Free 72
  Ecuador * Yes 3 3 Partly 63 3 3 Partly 65 3 3 Partly 67
  Egypt * No 6 6 Not 22 6 6 Not 21 6 6 Not 18
  El Salvador * Yes 2 3 Free 67 2 4 Partly 66 2 4 Partly 63
  Equatorial Guinea * No 7 7 Not 6 7 7 Not 6 7 7 Not 5
  Eritrea * No 7 7 Not 2 7 7 Not 2 7 7 Not 2
  Estonia * Yes 1 1 Free 94 1 1 Free 94 1 1 Free 94
  Ethiopia * No 6 6 Not 19 6 6 Not 24 6 6 Not 22
  Eswatini * No 7 6 Not 16 7 5 Not 19 7 5 Not 19
  Fiji * Yes 3 3 Partly 61 3 3 Partly 60 3 3 Partly 60
  Finland * Yes 1 1 Free 100 1 1 Free 100 1 1 Free 100
  France * Yes 1 2 Free 90 1 2 Free 90 1 2 Free 90
  Gabon * No 7 5 Not 23 7 5 Not 22 7 5 Not 22
  Gambia No 4 5 Partly 45 4 4 Partly 46 4 4 Partly 46
  Georgia * Yes 3 3 Partly 63 3 3 Partly 61 4 3 Partly 60
  Germany * Yes 1 1 Free 94 1 1 Free 94 1 1 Free 94
  Ghana * Yes 1 2 Free 83 2 2 Free 82 2 2 Free 82
  Greece * Yes 1 2 Free 87 1 2 Free 88 1 2 Free 87
  Grenada * Yes 1 2 Free 89 1 2 Free 89 1 2 Free 89
  Guatemala * No 4 4 Partly 53 4 4 Partly 52 4 4 Partly 52
  Guinea * No 5 4 Partly 43 5 5 Partly 40 5 5 Partly 38
  Guinea-Bissau * No 5 4 Partly 42 5 4 Partly 46 5 4 Partly 44
  Guyana * Yes 2 3 Free 75 2 3 Free 74 2 3 Free 73
  Haiti * No 5 5 Partly 41 5 5 Partly 38 5 5 Partly 37
  Honduras * No 4 4 Partly 46 4 4 Partly 45 4 5 Partly 44
  Hungary * Yes 3 3 Partly 70 3 3 Partly 70 3 3 Partly 69
  Iceland * Yes 1 1 Free 94 1 1 Free 94 1 1 Free 94
  India * Yes 2 3 Free 75 2 3 Free 71 2 4 Partly 67
  Indonesia * No 2 4 Partly 62 2 4 Partly 61 2 4 Partly 59
  Iran * No 6 6 Not 18 6 6 Not 17 6 6 Not 16
  Iraq * No 5 6 Not 32 5 6 Not 31 5 6 Not 29
  Ireland * Yes 1 1 Free 97 1 1 Free 97 1 1 Free 97
  Israel * Yes 2 3 Free 78 2 3 Free 76 2 3 Free 76
  Italy * Yes 1 1 Free 89 1 1 Free 89 1 1 Free 90
  Ivory Coast * No 4 4 Partly 51 4 4 Partly 51 5 4 Partly 44
  Jamaica * Yes 2 2 Free 78 2 2 Free 78 2 2 Free 80
  Japan * Yes 1 1 Free 96 1 1 Free 96 1 1 Free 96
  Jordan * No 5 5 Partly 37 5 5 Partly 37 6 5 Not 34
  Kazakhstan * No 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 23 7 5 Not 23
  Kenya * No 4 4 Partly 48 4 4 Partly 48 4 4 Partly 48
  Kiribati * Yes 1 1 Free 93 1 1 Free 93 1 1 Free 93
  Kosovo * Yes 3 4 Partly 54 3 4 Partly 56 4 4 Partly 54
  Kuwait * No 5 5 Partly 36 5 5 Partly 36 5 5 Partly 37
  Kyrgyzstan * No 5 4 Partly 38 5 4 Partly 39 7 5 Not 28
  Laos * No 7 6 Not 14 7 6 Not 14 7 6 Not 13
  Latvia * Yes 2 2 Free 87 1 2 Free 89 1 2 Free 89
  Lebanon * No 5 4 Partly 45 5 4 Partly 44 5 4 Partly 43
  Lesotho * Yes 3 3 Partly 63 3 3 Partly 63 3 3 Partly 63
  Liberia * Yes 3 3 Partly 62 3 4 Partly 60 3 4 Partly 60
  Libya * No 7 6 Not 9 7 6 Not 9 7 6 Not 9
  Liechtenstein * Yes 2 1 Free 90 2 1 Free 90 2 1 Free 90
  Lithuania * Yes 1 1 Free 91 1 1 Free 91 1 2 Free 90
  Luxembourg Yes 1 1 Free 98 1 1 Free 98 1 1 Free 97
  Madagascar * Yes 3 4 Partly 56 3 3 Partly 61 3 4 Partly 60
  Malawi * Yes 3 3 Partly 64 3 3 Partly 62 3 3 Partly 66
  Malaysia * No 4 4 Partly 52 4 4 Partly 52 4 4 Partly 51
  Maldives * No 5 5 Partly 35 4 5 Partly 40 4 5 Partly 40
  Mali * No 4 4 Partly 44 5 5 Partly 41 6 5 Not 33
  Malta * Yes 2 1 Free 91 2 1 Free 90 2 1 Free 90
  Marshall Islands * Yes 1 1 Free 93 1 1 Free 93 1 1 Free 93
  Mauritania * No 6 5 Not 32 5 5 Partly 34 5 5 Partly 35
  Mauritius * Yes 1 2 Free 89 1 2 Free 89 1 2 Free 87
  Mexico * Yes 3 3 Partly 63 3 3 Partly 62 3 4 Partly 61
  Micronesia * Yes 1 1 Free 92 1 1 Free 92 1 1 Free 92
  Moldova * Yes 3 4 Partly 58 3 4 Partly 60 3 3 Partly 61
  Monaco * Yes 3 1 Free 82 3 1 Free 83 3 1 Free 83
  Mongolia * Yes 1 2 Free 85 1 2 Free 84 1 2 Free 84
  Montenegro Yes 4 3 Partly 65 4 3 Partly 62 3 3 Partly 63
  Morocco * No 5 5 Partly 39 5 5 Partly 37 5 5 Partly 37
  Mozambique * No 4 4 Partly 51 5 4 Partly 45 5 4 Partly 43
  Myanmar * No 5 5 Partly 30 5 6 Not 30 5 6 Not 28
  Namibia * Yes 3 2 Free 75 2 2 Free 77 2 2 Free 77
  Nauru * Yes 2 2 Free 78 2 3 Free 77 2 3 Free 77
  Nepal * Yes 3 4 Partly 54 3 4 Partly 56 3 4 Partly 56
  Netherlands * Yes 1 1 Free 99 1 1 Free 99 1 1 Free 98
  New Zealand * Yes 1 1 Free 98 1 1 Free 97 1 1 Free 99
  Nicaragua * No 6 5 Not 32 6 5 Not 31 6 5 Not 30
  Niger * No 4 4 Partly 49 4 4 Partly 48 4 4 Partly 48
  Nigeria * No 3 5 Partly 50 4 5 Partly 47 4 5 Partly 45
  North Korea * No 7 7 Not 3 7 7 Not 3 7 7 Not 3
  North Macedonia * Yes 4 3 Partly 59 3 3 Partly 63 3 3 Partly 66
  Norway * Yes 1 1 Free 100 1 1 Free 100 1 1 Free 100
  Oman * No 6 5 Not 23 6 5 Not 23 6 5 Not 23
  Pakistan * No 5 5 Partly 39 5 5 Partly 38 5 5 Partly 37
  Palau * Yes 1 1 Free 92 1 1 Free 92 1 1 Free 92
  Panama Yes 1 2 Free 84 1 2 Free 84 2 2 Free 83
  Papua New Guinea * Yes 4 3 Partly 64 4 3 Partly 62 4 3 Partly 62
  Paraguay * Yes 3 3 Partly 65 3 3 Partly 65 3 3 Partly 65
  Peru * Yes 2 3 Free 73 2 3 Free 72 3 3 Partly 71
  Philippines * Yes 3 3 Partly 61 3 4 Partly 59 3 4 Partly 56
  Poland * Yes 2 2 Free 84 2 2 Free 84 2 2 Free 82
  Portugal * Yes 1 1 Free 96 1 1 Free 96 1 1 Free 96
  Qatar * No 6 5 Not 25 6 5 Not 25 6 5 Not 25
  Romania * Yes 2 2 Free 81 2 2 Free 83 2 2 Free 83
  Russia * No 7 6 Not 20 7 6 Not 20 7 6 Not 20
  Rwanda * No 6 6 Not 23 6 6 Not 22 6 6 Not 21
  Saint Kitts and Nevis Yes 1 1 Free 89 1 1 Free 89 2 1 Free 89
  Saint Lucia Yes 1 1 Free 92 1 1 Free 92 1 1 Free 91
  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines * Yes 1 1 Free 91 1 1 Free 91 1 1 Free 91
  Samoa * Yes 2 2 Free 81 2 2 Free 81 2 2 Free 81
  San Marino Yes 1 1 Free 95 1 1 Free 95 1 1 Free 93
  São Tomé and Príncipe * Yes 2 2 Free 83 2 2 Free 84 2 2 Free 84
  Saudi Arabia * No 7 7 Not 7 7 7 Not 7 7 7 Not 7
  Senegal * Yes 2 3 Free 72 3 3 Partly 71 3 3 Partly 71
  Serbia * Yes 3 3 Partly 67 4 3 Partly 66 4 3 Partly 64
  Seychelles Yes 3 3 Partly 71 3 3 Partly 72 2 3 Free 77
  Sierra Leone * Yes 3 3 Partly 65 3 3 Partly 65 3 3 Partly 65
  Singapore * No 4 4 Partly 51 4 4 Partly 50 4 4 Partly 48
  Slovakia * Yes 1 2 Free 88 1 2 Free 88 1 1 Free 90
  Slovenia Yes 1 1 Free 94 1 1 Free 94 1 1 Free 95
  Solomon Islands * Yes 2 2 Free 79 2 2 Free 79 2 2 Free 79
  Somalia * No 7 7 Not 7 7 7 Not 7 7 7 Not 7
  South Africa * Yes 2 2 Free 79 2 2 Free 79 2 2 Free 79
  South Korea * Yes 2 2 Free 83 2 2 Free 83 2 2 Free 83
  South Sudan * No 7 7 Not 2 7 7 Not 2 7 7 Not 2
  Spain * Yes 1 1 Free 94 1 1 Free 92 1 1 Free 90
  Sri Lanka * Yes 3 4 Partly 56 4 4 Partly 56 4 4 Partly 56
  Sudan * No 7 7 Not 7 7 6 Not 12 7 6 Not 17
  Suriname * Yes 2 3 Free 77 2 3 Free 75 2 2 Free 79
  Sweden * Yes 1 1 Free 100 1 1 Free 100 1 1 Free 100
  Switzerland * Yes 1 1 Free 96 1 1 Free 96 1 1 Free 96
  Syria * No 7 7 Not 0 7 7 Not 0 7 7 Not 1 7 7 Not 1 7 7 Not 1
  Tajikistan * No 7 6 Not 9 7 6 Not 9 7 6 Not 8 7 6 Not 8 7 6 Not 7
  Tanzania * No 4 5 Partly 45 5 5 Partly 40 5 5 Partly 34 5 5 Partly 34 5 5 Partly 36
  Thailand * No 7 5 Not 30 6 4 Partly 32 7 5 Not 30 7 5 Not 29 6 5 Not 30
  Togo * No 5 4 Partly 43 5 4 Partly 44 5 4 Partly 43 5 4 Partly 42 5 4 Partly 42
  Tonga * Yes 2 2 Free 79 2 2 Free 79 2 2 Free 79 2 2 Free 79 2 2 Free 81
  Trinidad and Tobago * Yes 2 2 Free 82 2 2 Free 82 2 2 Free 82
  Tunisia * Yes 2 3 Free 69 2 3 Free 70 2 3 Free 71
  Turkey * No 5 6 Not 31 5 6 Not 32 5 6 Not 32
  Turkmenistan * No 7 7 Not 2 7 7 Not 2 7 7 Not 2
  Tuvalu * Yes 1 1 Free 93 1 1 Free 93 1 1 Free 93
  Uganda * No 6 5 Not 36 6 5 Not 34 6 5 Not 34
  Ukraine * No 3 4 Partly 60 3 3 Partly 62 3 4 Partly 60
  United Arab Emirates * No 7 6 Not 17 7 6 Not 17 7 6 Not 17
  United Kingdom * Yes 1 1 Free 93 1 1 Free 94 1 1 Free 93
  United States * Yes 2 1 Free 86 2 1 Free 86 2 2 Free 83
  Uruguay * Yes 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 98 1 1 Free 98
  Uzbekistan * No 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 10 7 6 Not 11
  Vanuatu * Yes 2 2 Free 82 2 2 Free 82 2 2 Free 82
  Venezuela * No 7 6 Not 19 7 6 Not 16 7 6 Not 14
  Vietnam * No 7 5 Not 20 7 5 Not 20 7 6 Not 19
  Yemen * No 7 6 Not 11 7 6 Not 11 7 6 Not 11
  Zambia * No 4 4 Partly 54 4 4 Partly 54 4 4 Partly 52
  Zimbabwe * No 5 5 Partly 31 5 5 Partly 29 6 5 Not 28

Territories and countries with limited recognition

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Territory (2024)
Total PR CL Free
Abkhazia 39 17 22 Partly free
Crimea 2 -2 4 Not free
Eastern Donbas 2 -1 3 Not free
Gaza Strip 8 3 5 Not free
Hong Kong 41 9 32 Partly free
Indian Kashmir 26 6 20 Not free
Nagorno-Karabakh -3 -3 0 Not free
Northern Cyprus 76 27 49 Free
Pakistani Kashmir 29 9 20 Not free
Somaliland 43 17 26 Partly free
South Ossetia 12 3 9 Not free
Taiwan 94 38 56 Free
Tibet 0 -2 2 Not free
Transnistria 17 5 12 Not free
West Bank 22 4 18 Not free
Western Sahara 4 -3 7 Not free


Country 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2020 2021[13]
PR CL Free PR CL Free PR CL Free PR CL Free PR CL Free PR CL Free Pts PR CL Free Pts
  Abkhazia * 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 17 23 Partly 40 17 23 Partly 40
  Crimea (disputed) 4 3 Partly 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not -2 10 Not 8 -2 9 Not 7
Donetsk PR and Luhansk PR (disputed) -1 6 Not 5 -1 5 Not 4
Gaza Strip (Palestine) 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 3 8 Not 11 3 8 Not 11
  Hong Kong * (China) 5 2 Partly 5 2 Partly 5 2 Partly 5 2 Partly 5 2 Partly 16 39 Partly 55 15 37 Partly 52
Indian Kashmir (India) 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 8 20 Not 28 7 20 Not 27
Azad Kashmir (Pakistan) 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 9 19 Not 28 9 19 Not 28
  Northern Cyprus * 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 31 50 Free 81 28 50 Free 78
  Puerto Rico (United States)* 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 1 Free[14]
  Somaliland * 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 17 24 Partly 41 18 24 Partly 42
  South Ossetia * 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 2 8 Not 10 2 8 Not 10
  Taiwan * 1 1 Free 93 1 1 Free 94
Tibet (China) 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not -2 3 Not 1 -2 3 Not 1
  Transnistria * 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 9 13 Not 22 8 12 Not 20
West Bank (Palestine) 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 4 21 Not 25 4 21 Not 25
  Western Sahara * 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not -3 7 Not 4 -3 7 Not 4

Former entries

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Former entries from Freedom in the World. Most are territories added in the 1978 report for 1977 and received their last coverage in the 2000 report of the same year. Other territories with differing dates are noted below. Their placements are based on their final rankings before ceasing coverage.

Free

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Partly Free

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Not Free

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Percentage of countries in each category, from the 1973 through 2021 reports:

  1973–2021

  Not Free
  Partly Free
  Free

  Electoral Democracies
Year
 Free
 Partly
Free
 Not
Free
 Electoral
Democracies
1975 41 (27%) 48 (32%) 63 (41%) —
1980 51 (32%) 54 (33%) 56 (35%) —
1985 53 (32%) 59 (35%) 55 (33%) —
1990 61 (37%) 44 (26%) 62 (37%) 69 (41%)
1995 76 (40%) 61 (32%) 54 (28%) 113 (59%)
2000 85 (44%) 60 (31%) 47 (25%) 120 (63%)
2005 89 (46%) 54 (28%) 49 (26%) 119 (62%)
2010 89 (46%) 58 (30%) 47 (24%) 116 (60%)
2011 87 (45%) 60 (31%) 47 (24%) 115 (59%)
2012 87 (45%) 60 (31%) 48 (25%) 117 (60%)
2013 90 (46%) 58 (30%) 47 (24%) 117 (60%)
2014 88 (45%) 59 (30%) 48 (25%) 122 (63%)
2015 89 (46%) 55 (28%) 51 (26%) 125 (64%)
2016 86 (44%) 59 (30%) 50 (26%) 125 (64%)
2017 87 (45%) 59 (30%) 49 (25%) 123 (63%)
2018 88 (45%) 58 (30%) 49 (25%) 116 (59%)
2019 86 (44%) 59 (30%) 50 (26%) 115 (59%)
2020 83 (43%) 63 (32%) 49 (25%) 115 (59%)
2021 82 (42%) 59 (30%) 54 (28%) 114 (58%)
2022 83 (43%) 56 (29%) 56 (29%) 115 (59%)
2023 84 (43%) 54 (28%) 57 (29%) 110 (56%)

Sources: Country Status and ratings overview 1973–2016,[15][12] Number and percentages of electoral democracies 1989–2016,[16] Freedom in the World 2018 report covering 2017.[17]

Notes:

  • The years shown in the map and table above are the year the survey was released, the data shown covers the prior calendar year.
  • The chart and table above do not include data for related/disputed territories.

Evaluation

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See also: Freedom House § Criticism

There is some debate over the neutrality of Freedom House and the methodology used for the Freedom in the World report, which has been written by Raymond Gastil and his colleagues.[3] The neutrality and biases of human-rights indices have been discussed in several publications by Kenneth A. Bollen.[18] Bollen wrote that "Considered together these criticisms suggest that some nations may have been incorrectly rated on Gastil's measures. However, none of the criticisms have demonstrated a systematic bias in all the ratings. Most of the evidence consists of anecdotal evidence of relatively few cases. Whether there is a systematic or sporadic slant in Gastil's ratings is an open question" (Bollen, 1986, p. 586).[3] The freedom index of Freedom in the World has a very strong and positive (at least an 80%) correlation with three other democracy-indices studied in Mainwaring (2001, p. 53).[19]

Ideological bias or neutrality

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In his 1986 study, Bollen discussed reviews of measurements of human rights, including the index reported in Freedom in the World (Bollen, 1986, p. 585). Criticisms of Freedom in the World during the 1980s were discussed by Gastil (1990), who stated that "generally such criticism is based on opinions about Freedom House rather than detailed examination of survey ratings", a conclusion disputed by Giannone.[20] The definition of Freedom in Gastil (1982) and Freedom House (1990) emphasized liberties rather than the exercise of freedom, according to Adam Przeworski, who gave the following example: In the United States, citizens are free to form political parties and to vote, yet even in presidential elections only half of U.S. "citizens" vote; in the U.S., "the same two parties speak in a commercially sponsored unison", wrote Przeworski (2003, p. 277).[5]

More recent charges of ideological bias prompted Freedom House to issue this 2010 statement:

Freedom House does not maintain a culture-bound view of freedom. The methodology of the survey is grounded in basic standards of political rights and civil liberties, derived in large measure from relevant portions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These standards apply to all countries and territories, irrespective of geographical location, ethnic or religious composition, or level of economic development.[10]

Mainwaring et alia (2001, p. 52)[19] wrote that Freedom House's index had "two systematic biases: scores for leftist were tainted by political considerations, and changes in scores are sometimes driven by changes in their criteria rather than changes in real conditions." Nonetheless, when evaluated in Latin American countries yearly, Freedom House's index was very strongly and positively correlated with the index of Adam Przeworski and with the index of the authors themselves: They evaluated Pearson's coefficient of linear correlation between their index and Freedom House's index, which was 0.82; among these indices and the two others studied, the correlations were all between 0.80 and 0.86 (Mainwaring et alia, 2001, p. 53).[19]

As previously quoted, Bollen criticized previous studies of Freedom in the World as anecdotal and inconclusive; they raised issues needing further study by scientific methods rather than anecdotes.[3] Bollen studied the question of ideological bias using multivariate statistics. Using their factor-analytic model for human-rights measurements, Bollen and Paxton estimate that Gastil's method produces a bias of -0.38 standard deviations (s.d.) against Marxist–Leninist countries and a larger bias, +0.5 s.d., favoring Christian countries; similar results held for the methodology of Sussman (Bollen and Paxton, 2000, p. 585).[21] In contrast, another method by a critic of Freedom in the World produced a bias for Leftist countries during the 1980s of at least +0.8 s.d., a bias that is "consistent with the general finding that political scientists are more favorable to leftist politics than is the general population" (Bollen and Paxton, p. 585).[21]

Coder bias

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Political scientists Andrew T. Little and Anne Meng argued that the data produced by Freedom House and the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project relies heavily on subjective, as opposed to objective, measures and thus are tainted by coder bias.[22]

Use and conceptual analysis

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Criticisms of the reception and uses of the Freedom in the World report have been noted by Diego Giannone:[23][unreliable source?]

  • "Conceptual stretching", Giovanni Sartori's critical term for a methodological shortcoming common in social studies.[24] Giannone reports as an example that, according to Landman and Hausermann (2003), "the index by FH has been used as a tool for measuring democracy, good governance, and human rights, thus producing a conceptual stretching which is a major cause of 'losses in connotative precision': in short, an instrument used to measure everything, in the end, is not able to discriminate against anything."[25]
  • Issues with aggregation. Giannone quotes Scoble and Wiseberg's conclusion (1981) that "the sum of a civil liberty score of 4 and a political liberty score of 2 is the same as the sum of a civil liberty score of 2 and a political liberty score of 4 even though the substantive interpretation of these different combinations is different."[26]
  • "Lack of specificity and rigorousness in construction" and "inadequate level of transparency and replicability of the scales", the first referencing to Scoble et alie (1981) and the latter to Hadenius and Teorell (2005).[27] In support of the latter, he also quotes the conclusion of Munck and Verkuilen (2002) that "the aggregate data offered by Freedom House has to be accepted largely on faith",[28] due to the factors that "no set of coding rules is provided, and the sources of information are not identified with enough precision, and because disaggregated data have not been made available to independent scholars".[27]

Time series

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See also: Panel study and Time series

In "Political and ideological aspects in the measurement of democracy: the Freedom House case" (2010) which reviewed changes to the methodology since 1990, Diego Giannone concluded that "because of the changes in methodology over time and the strict interconnection between methodological and political aspects, the FH data do not offer an unbroken and politically neutral time series, such that they should not be used for cross-time analyses even for the development of first hypotheses. The internal consistency of the data series is open to question."[29]

On this topic, the Freedom House website replies that they have "made a number of modest methodological changes to adapt to evolving ideas about political rights and civil liberties. At the same time, the time series data are not revised retroactively, and any changes to the methodology are introduced incrementally in order to ensure the comparability of the ratings from year to year."[10]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Gorokhovskaia, Yana; Shahbaz, Adrian; Slipowitz, Amy (9 March 2023). "Marking 50 Years in the Struggle for Democracy". Freedom House. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  2. ^ William Ide (11 January 2000). "Freedom House Report: Asia Sees Some Significant Progress". Voice of America. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d Bollen, K.A., "Political Rights and Political Liberties in Nations: An Evaluation of Human Rights Measures, 1950 to 1984", Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 8, no. 4 (November 1986), pp.567–591. Also in: Jabine, T.B. and Pierre Claude, R. (Eds.), Human Rights and Statistics, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992, pp. 188–215, ISBN 0-8122-3108-2.
  4. ^ “Correlation Versus Interchangeability: the Limited Robustness of Empirical Finding on Democracy Using Highly Correlated Data Sets" Archived 20 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Gretchen Casper and Claudiu Tufis, Political Analysis, 11:2 (2003), pp. 196–203, Society for Political Methodology
  5. ^ a b Przeworski, Adam (2003). "Freedom to choose and democracy". Economics and Philosophy. 19 (2): 265–279. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.570.736. doi:10.1017/S0266267103001159. S2CID 38812895.
  6. ^ List of Electoral Democracies FIW23 (.XLSX), by Freedom House
  7. ^ "Freedom in the World 2019" (PDF). Freedom House. 5 February 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  8. ^ "Freedom in the World 2020" (PDF). Freedom House. 4 March 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  9. ^ "Freedom in the World 2021" (PDF). Freedom House. 3 March 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  10. ^ a b c d "Freedom in the World 2010: Methodology" Archived 23 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Freedom in the World 2010, Freedom house
  11. ^ "Methodology: Freedom in the World 2018". freedomhouse.org. 13 January 2018. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  12. ^ a b c Country and Territory Ratings and Statuses, 1973-2024 (Excel Download), Freedom In the World, Country and Territory Ratings and Statuses, 1973-2024 (Excel Download), Freedom House.
  13. ^ "Countries and Territories". Freedom House. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  14. ^ Puerto Rico *. Retrieved from https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2016/puerto-rico Archived 18 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Status %26 Ratings Overview, 1973-2016.pdf "Country Status and ratings overview"[permanent dead link], Freedom In the World 1973–2016, Freedom House. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  16. ^ Democracy Numbers, FIW 1989-2016.pdf "Number and percentages of electoral democracies"[permanent dead link], Freedom In the World 1973–2016, Freedom House. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  17. ^ Freedom In the World 2018, Freedom House.
  18. ^ Bollen has held chairs as a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and the Director of the Howard W. Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). Also serving as an Adjunct Professor of Statistics at UNC-CH, Bollen wrote the leading graduate textbook in structural equation models (SEM), often called LISREL models; SEM modeling allows the summary of a large number of measurements using a small number of meaningful factors. SEM was used by Bollen in the studies reported hereafter.
  19. ^ a b c Mainwaring, S.; Brinks, D.; Pérez-Liñán, A.B. (2001). "Classifying Political Regimes in Latin". Studies in Comparative International Development. 36 (1): 37–65. doi:10.1007/BF02687584. S2CID 155047996.
  20. ^ Gastil, R.D. (1990). "The Comparative Survey of Freedom: Experiences and Suggestions". Studies in Comparative International Development. 25 (1): 25–50. doi:10.1007/BF02716904. S2CID 144099626.
  21. ^ a b Bollen, Kenneth A. and Paxton, Pamela, "Subjective Measures of Liberal Democracy", Comparative Political Studies, vol. 33, no. 1 (February 2000), pp. 58–86
  22. ^ Andrew Little and Anne Meng,“Measuring Democratic Backsliding.“ PS: Political Science & Politics (forthcoming). https://osf.io/n32zk/
  23. ^ Giannone, Diego, "Political and ideological aspects in the measurement of democracy: the Freedom House case", Democratization, vol. 17, no. 1 (February 2010), pp. 68–97.
  24. ^ "Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics." The American Political Science Review 64 (4): 1033–1053.
  25. ^ Giannone (2010), p. 69. Quoting Landman, Tod, and Julia Hausermann, indicators/GovIndicatorsEssex2003.pdf Map-Making and Analysis of the Main International Initiatives on Developing Indicators on Democracy and Good Governance [dead link], Final Report, University of Essex – Human Rights Centre, July 2003, 98 pp.
  26. ^ Scoble, Harry and Laurie Wiseberg, Ved Nanda, Ved, James Scarritt, and George Shepherd (eds) (1981), "Problems of Comparative Research in Human Rights", Global Human Rights: Public Policies, Comparative Measures and NGO Strategies, pp. 147–171, Westview Press, Boulder, CO, ISBN 978-0-89158-858-0. Cited in Giannone (2010), p. 69.
  27. ^ a b Giannone (2010), p. 69, citing Scoble, et al. (1981) and Axel Hadenius and Jan Teorell. "Assessing Alternative Indices of Democracy", Political Concepts, Committee on Concepts and Methods, Working Paper Series, August 2005, 47 pp.
  28. ^ Munck, Gerardo L. and Verkuilen, Jay, CPS 2002.pdf "Conceptualising and Measuring Democracy: Evaluating Alternative Indices" [dead link], Comparative Political Studies, vol. 35, no. 1 (February 2002), pp. 5–34. Cited in Giannone (2010), p. 69.
  29. ^ Giannone (2010), p. 68.

References

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