Who knew, that in 2022, Democracy would be under threat and authoritarianism on the rise as they are today in the United States and around the world.
Twenty years ago it seemed self-evident that the march of "progress" would lead inevitably to more and more of the world's population living in truly democratic, corruption-free societies where freedom of expression and freedom of the press would be the norm.
Yet here we are. Authoritarianism and all the ills it carries with it on the ascent and those who defend democracy on the defensive.
Ethical Mom includes a focus on these issues under its Just and Civil Society category in the hope that introducing a consumer led economic incentive for countries and states to become more democratic and less authoritarian will help turn the tide.
Ethical Mom's Just and Civil Society issue category is a "catch-all" category for all things "democratic" vs "authoritarian", including:
- freedom of expression;
- freedom of the press;
- freedom of association; and
- non-corrupt governance.
It also includes:
- civil, honest discourse of public issues; and
- decent, respectful and empathetic treatment of all members of society.
Our Place ratings for Just and Civil Society curently come from the annual country by country ratings on corruption published by Transparency International which you can find here. Within the United States, all States on SweetScore receive the same Just and Civil Society score, which is the United States score derived from the Transparency International score for the United States. We provide one single score for all States because Transparency International doesn't currently provide State by State ratings.
We know that there is more to the Just and Civil Society issue category than the corruption related matters considered by Transparency International and we would welcome your suggestions on how we can continue to improve our Just and Civil Society scoring metric. You can reach us to provide your suggestions here.
For a sophisticated deep-dive on the threat to Democracy facing us now, please see: Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine Albright.
To see how our Ethical Mom ratings on this and other issues are determined, please see About Our Ratings.
We encourage you to do your own research and determine what corruption and a lack of decency and the risk they bring mean to you.
We also encourage you to support organizations supporting justice and human rights throughout the world.
Our ratings are political opinion, not fact. Please see our Content and Ratings Disclaimer.
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