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U.N. Report: Democracies Flawed by Corruption NewsMax WiresBRUSSELS -- The world is more democratic than it has ever been, but corruption, conflicts and rising inequality are putting at risk the advances made during the 1990s, the United Nations says in a report released Wednesday. The annual U.N. Human Development Report says 140 countries now hold multi-party elections. However, the quality of many democracies is poor, with only half guaranteeing full human rights, freedom of speech and political liberty, it says. The report warns that the wave of democracy-building of the late 1980s and 1990s has stalled, with many countries lapsing back into authoritarianism and civil strife. "Too often, when economic or social challenges confront a nation there is a mistaken notion that authoritarian rule will provide the answer," says the report's author Sakiko Fukuda Parr. "Yet there is no evidence to support this. On the contrary, research shows authoritarian regimes have presided over some of the world's greatest economic disasters - such as Uganda under Idi Amin or Zaire under Mobutu." Rejecting the argument that democracy is a "rich man's luxury," the report cites research showing established democracies are much less likely to experience civil war, famine and political unrest than authoritarian regimes. The U.N. study also argues that building democracy and fighting poverty are key tools in the global fight against terrorism. "Terrorism feeds on failed states and poor governance as much as failures of national security: we cannot successfully address one without the other," says U.N. Development Program chief Mark Malloch Brown. The 12th annual development report uses indicators such as life expectancy, personal income and healthcare provision to rank more than 170 countries. Norway again comes top of the list, followed by Sweden, Canada, Belgium, Australia and the United States. The bottom 25 countries in the index are all in sub-Saharan Africa. The report says that "substantial progress" has been made in most parts of the world over the last decade. However, large swathes of central and Eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa have a lower level of development now than in the early 1990s, it states. "The 1990s were a period of progress, but also a period of terrible decline," Fukuda Parr told reporters at the study's Brussels launch. "Over 50 countries ended the decade poorer and inequalities in incomes reached grotesque levels," said the report's author. Copyright 2002 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
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