Lesson 6.1

Lesson 3—Good Governance

What is the relationship between human rights, democratization, and globalization?

Get Focused

Canada ranks in the top 10 out of 167 countries of the world as a full democracy. Canada is a member of the G8 as one of the world’s highly industrialized economies. In Canada’s constitution, it is written that Canadians have the right to free elections, and specific rights and freedoms are protected. Tibet is considered a less-developed country with limited rights and freedoms. Do all highly globalized countries also have high levels of human rights and democratic practices?

democracy: a set of political principles that respects freedom to choose

Research

Create a chart ranking the degree of globalization, democracy, and respect for human rights. Economist.com provides a democracy index that ranks the most to least democratic countries in the world for 2006. FreedomHouse.org provides comparative scores on how much freedom exists in countries of the world. You can find relevant information in the “Freedom of the World” tables and graphs. Amnesty International provides the status of human rights by country on its website. NationMaster.com lists countries based on their gross national income.

1. Research information about the rankings (most, some, least) of the following countries in the areas of gross national income, human rights, freedom, and democracy.
   
   
   • Canada
   • United States
   • France
   • Germany
   • Britain
   • Italy
   • Japan
   • Russia
   • China

2. How does each one of the nine countries rank in the four areas? Create a chart displaying this information.