Countries at the Crossroads 2011

Freedom House is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that supports democratic change, monitors freedom, and advocates for democracy and human rights.

This valuable reference is an annual publication from Freedom House, a watchdog organization that monitors countries' political freedom and human rights progress. It supplies information on countries that are 'at a critical turning point' in their political development. The publication analyzes different sets of countries in even and odd years. The 2010 edition furnishes information about 32 countries. Making comparisons between the different editions is easy because they use similar rankings, and the country articles follow a uniform format (for the 2006 report, see CH, Apr'07, 44-4207). Freedom House authors take surveys to assess factors such as accountability and public voice, civil liberties, rule of law, and anticorruption and transparency. Numerical scales range from one to seven, with seven being the highest score. The rankings are presented in well-organized tables. Report authors follow prescribed guidelines to write corresponding narratives and recommendations. They present evidence showing general decreases in political freedom in the countries covered....This illuminating reference will be useful for both undergraduate and graduate collections. Summing Up: Recommended.