By Robert Fragnito
The Global Democracy Ranking, an independent initiative based in Austria ranked Lebanon the world's second most improved global democracy for 2009 in its early release ranking. Although Lebanon has been laden with its share of political troubles from 2007 to 2009 with street violence, protests, political assassinations, parliamentary elections, and the resolved cabinet formation impasse, the ranking found that Lebanon did in fact make very significant gains.
The Global Democracy Ranking focuses on ranking the quality of democracy by understanding democracies on a multidimensional level which includes: the political system, gender equality, economic system, knowledge of society or education, the health system, and environmental sustainability.
As 2010 kicks off it appears that some political normalcy is settling in Lebanon despite long standing internal rivalries between religio-political factions. The new government headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the son of the late assassinated prime minister Rafiq Hariri, will attempt to maintain a unified government despite strong opposition headed by the Shi'a militant group Hezbollah. In 2010 Saad Hariri will have the difficult task of keeping Lebanon unified in the face of foreign influences ranging from Iran, Syria, the West, Saudi Arabia, and Israel while ensuring that these influences do not disturb the internal security of the country.
For More Information on The Global Democracy Ranking Please Visit the following links:
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Democracy Ranking 2009 (List of Democracies)
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Democracy Ranking (Wikipedia Article)
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