Measuring Democracy

I picked the Balkans for my Democracy report, only to realize that I know nothing about the region other than the fact that my family is from there, and The Popovich Brothers were a rockin’ Serbian folk band from South Chicago… who were my great uncles, or something.

Anyway, I thought it would be a good idea to briefly outline what the political climate is like in the six countries I chose. And then I thought, I’ll throw it on the intrawebs.

Albania

• With about 3,000,000 residents, Albania has officially applied to be a member of the European Union. Albania is a parliamentary democracy, having establishing a constitution in 1998. The members of the legislative branch, the Assembly of the Republic of Albania, is elected by a party list proportional representation system. The Assembly elects the President by secret ballot. Executive power rests with the council of ministers, or cabinet. Albania was part of the Communist bloc, so they’ve only been trying this democracy thing for 20 or so years.

Bulgaria

• Bulgarians have been Bulgarians since the 7th century AD (they were under Ottoman rule for a bit, but the ethnicity and culture that is Bulgaria has remained in tact for centuries). The country is a member of the EU, and it appears that things have been mostly stable there since the fall of the USSR. Bulgaria is a parliamentary democracy, much the same as Albania (albeit with different democratic sounding names). Currently a three party coalition government holds a majority.

Greece

• Greece has had some serious economic problems since the sub-prime mortgage crisis hit in 2008. The EU and World Bank has given them numerous bailouts, and the economy is the Euro isn’t doing so hot. At least they seem to have the most stable of democracies out of the bunch.

There’s part one. Part II is when it gets really interesting (Bosnia and Hez, Serbia, and Croatia). Think Bosnian war and genocide.