Conventional indicators

Freedom, Democracy, Justice: Isolated Nouns or Interwoven Verbs? (Part #2)

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Much effort has been invested in establishing the degrees of freedom, justice and democracy in societies around the world. Indicators of current conditions of progress towards these ends, and the reports based upon them, are typically considered as intentionally provocative and controversial. This is naturally the case for those countries that are rated poorly by the standards of measurement defined.

Reports offering indicators that can be interpreted to this end include:

• Human Development Report (HDR) published annually by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• Advancing Freedom and Democracy Reports published annually by the US State Department
• Freedom in the World published as an annual survey by Freedom House
• Democracy Index published annually by the Economist Intelligence Unit
• Global Peace Index (GPI) measuring the relative peacefulness of nations and regions, produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace
• Happy Planet Index (HPI) of human well-being and environmental impact produced by the New Economics Foundation (NEF)
• Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in countries outside the USA, produced annually by the United States Department of State
• World Report published annually by Human Rights Watch, presenting an overview of the worldwide state of human rights.
• Amnesty International Report: The State of the World's Human Rights published annually by Amnesty International
• Report on the World Social Situation (RWSS) prepared on a biennial basis by the UN Division for Social Policy and Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs

These are variously a focus of criticism.

An earlier study questioned the assumption that such "performance indicators" in any way constituted an indication of "remedial capacity" if inadequacies were evident -- especially in relation to potential crises, as with overpopulation (Remedial Capacity Indicators versus Performance Indicators, 1981). This argument was later developed further (Recognizing the Psychosocial Boundaries of Remedial Action: constraints on ensuring a safe operating space for humanity, 2009).

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