Freedom deficit is a term coined by a group of Arab scholars for the UNDP Arab Human Development Report in 2002. As defined in the report, a freedom deficit exists when there is "a substantial lag between Arab countries and other regions in terms of participatory government," where "

freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

" is thus synonymous with " democracy." A measure of the freedom deficit is calculated by assessing political participation and

accountability Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the publ ...

, freedom of expression and

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, in ...

. The 2002 Arab Human Development Report attempted to account for the fact that the Arab region does poorly on the Human Development Index, yet does not suffer the same economic woes of similar nations. These scholars posited three deficits: freedom, women's empowerment, and knowledge. Since 2002, the term has been used by politicians and pundits alike. Shortly after the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

, US Defense undersecretary

Douglas J. Feith Douglas Jay Feith (born July 16, 1953) served as the under secretary of Defense for Policy for United States president George W. Bush, from July 2001 until August 2005. He is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank. F ...

noted that once free of Saddam Hussein, Iraq would no longer suffer from a freedom deficit. US President George W. Bush acknowledged the role of Western nations in contributing to the freedom deficit in the Middle East. The conservative American Enterprise Institute issued a commentary in 2004 defending the War on Terrorism as being crucial to ending the freedom deficit. United States Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Uni ...

used the term in December 2006 during a press conference on the

Israeli–Palestinian conflict The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is one of the world's most enduring conflicts, beginning in the mid-20th century. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, alongside other ef ...

to describe the "core problem" of the Middle East. ABC 7

News News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

broken link
Retrieved 11 August 2007. Beyond the Middle East,

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

blogger

John Pugsley John Allen Pugsley (January 5, 1934 – April 8, 2011) was an American voluntaryist libertarian political, economics commentator, lecturer, and best-selling author. Early life Pugsley was born in Minnesota. He attended El Camino Junior College, t ...

applied the term to China, noting that the US/China trade deficit is really a result of a freedom deficit in China.

References

External links

UNDP Arab Human Development Report 2002

Arab Governance: Citizens Getting Organized to Bargain

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

References

External links

See also