Where do we compare?
thoughts provided from a subscriber, news from another
As my father was preparing for his second overseas posting with the Agency for International Development, we family members also spent time at the State Department. I several years older than his first assignment so it was hardly brand new information but visits to Foggy Bottom were welcome because of its historic significance.
Dependents watched a movie one afternoon that fundamentally altered the course of my life and most definitely my career interests. I confess I don’t recall much detail except that we were being reminded we were going to someone else’s country. Well, duh.
One line stuck out so profoundly that I recall it today because of how I reacted. I knew it was intended to come across as humorous but all I absolutely recoiled at:
“Ninety-five percent of the world is foreigners”.
Not we were five percent of the world. Not that Americans made up five percent of the world’s population. Not that almost two hundred other countries existed.
Ninety-five percent of the world is foreigners with a connotation of them being different. It struck me as such an inelegant, offensive way to see the world, even if it was the description being used in jest or being consumed by a domestic audience.
The statement has driven me since that steamy July day in 1970 to teach, study, and visit that world not only to understand the differences but to alert fellow citizens to those perspectives and variables important to others. It’s been the most enduring passion in my life yes, even more than cats) while our grasp of that non-U.S. world and theirs of us has ebbed and flowed. It’s just central to how I think. That statement drove me to be a Professor of International Studies rather than a good member of any single discipline since we few international studies types believe the multiple measures of societies require cross cutting analyses of what goes on in any country and the rest of the world. It explains why I taught national security, I suspect, which is similarly a blended field rather than a single, easily manifested traditional discipline.
When my friend, colleague and Actions subscriber Wayne Selcher, also Professor Emeritus of International Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, suggested I might want to take raise this topic with you, it was the most logical suggestion in the world. Specializing in comparative politics, Wayne’s work over decades opened countless minds to how the United States differs with other places. Often those in the rest of the world find our views perplexing, if not inexplicable, but he is supremely able to illuminate things in the easiest of manners.
Wayne forwarded me some comparative statistics along with a new report on how we are doing compared with others. He suggested you, the Actions readers, would find these rankings of value as we struggle with seeing ourselves and our interactions with the rest of the global community. His email is attached, though I excerpted only some personal information in his message.
“Cynthia,
As a comparativist, this quote has animated my thinking, and actually the concept even before Lipset stated it-- “It is impossible to understand a country without seeing how it varies from others. Those who know only one country know no country.” (Sociologist/political scientist Seymour Martin Lipset)
After all, less than 5% of humans alive today are Americans. [I believe the number is about 4%—cw] We can learn something from the other 95%, beyond the usual national self-congratulatory “I am glad we are not as bad off as Venezuela or Somalia.” I touched seriously on the comparative topic in my long articles on American exceptionalism and American political culture, that I mentioned to you months ago:
https://www.opeu.org.br/2021/08/03/is-the-united-states-exceptional/
There is a new comparative study just out, re the US in global context:
https://stateofnation.org/
“The State of the Nation Project tackles one of the most pressing questions of our time: How are we doing as a country? With rising polarization, misinformation, pessimism, and distrust descending on us, we conceived the project to identify the challenges we face and recognize progress.”…
Below my signature is a list of rankings of the US that I compiled a couple weeks ago and links to their respective sources. I may do my projected article as a review of and extension of the State of The Nation Project.
Again, as with your blog, dialogue welcome!
Best regards,
Wayne Selcher
Global Ranking of the United States on Widely Used International Scales of Quality of Democracy and Human Well-Being
Freedom House (2023): Classified as “Free” with a score of 83 out of a possible 100, among 210 countries and territories, where a score of 100 is the most free (as contrasted with “partially free” and “not free”). Weaknesses: Political Rights scored 33 out of a possible 40 and Civil Liberties scored 50 out of 60.
Economist Intelligence Unit (2023): Classified as a “flawed democracy,” ranked at 29 out of 167 countries, with a score of 7.85 out of a possible 10, with the weakest areas being in “functioning of government” (6.43 out of 10) and “political culture” (6.25 out of 10) .
Democracy Matrix (2020): Ranked #36 (“deficient democracy”) among 176 countries, where #1 is the “highest quality” democracy, with a score of 8.11 out of 10. (Highest ranked country among the “deficient democracies”)
Fragile States Index of the Fund for Peace (2024) places U.S. in the non-fragile position of 141 among 179 states, with number 179 being the least fragile. Assigns a score of 44.5 out of 100, with 100 with being the most fragile. There is an upswing in the U.S. score since 2015, from 34 to 44.5, indicating increased fragility, the latter defined as the inability of a state to overcome the challenges it faces. The greatest pressures on the U.S. were identified as the economy, public services, human flight and brain drain, refugees and displaced persons, and external intervention.
State Resilience Index of the Fund for Peace ranks the U.S. at #16 in its evaluation of 154 countries, regarding “the extent to which a country can prepare, manage, and recover from a crisis, relative to the severity of that crisis.” The greatest weaknesses were identified in the areas of environment and social cohesion.
International Parliamentary Union’s Data on Percentage of Women in Parliament (February 1, 2024): Ranked 71 out of 184 countries.
Human Freedom Index (Cato Institute, 2023): Ranked #17 out of 165 “jurisdictions” in Human Freedom for 2021, with a score of 8.3, where 10 is “most free.” (U.S. was #7 in 2000.) The HFI uses perhaps the broadest range of indicators of any of these widely-cited surveys. Greatest weaknesses were in “rule of law” and “freedom of movement.”
Transparency International’s Annual Corruption Perceptions Index (2023): Ranked #24 out of 180 countries, where #1 is “least corrupt,” with a score of 69, where 100 is “least corrupt.”
Legatum Prosperity Index (Legatum Institute, 2023): Ranked #19 out of 167 countries, on the score in a wide range of indicators of prosperity. Lowest U.S. rankings among the 167 countries were in Safety and Security (#69) and Health (#69).
Human Development Index (United Nations Development Program, 2023-24): Ranked #20 out of 193 countries on a broad composite measure of human well-being.
Social Progress Index (Social Progress Imperative, 2023): Ranked #29 out of 170 countries, with a score of 81.7 within a country score range of 25.93 to 90.38. Includes broad measures of well-being.
World Happiness Report (2024): Ranked #23 out of 143 countries in positivity of “life evaluation.” Ranked #62 in regard to happiness level of those below 30 years of age and #10 for those 60 and above. Compared to 2006, "Happiness has decreased in all age groups, but especially for the young, so much so that the young are now, in 2021-2023, the least happy age group.” “There is widespread concern, especially in the United States, about an emerging epidemic of loneliness, and about the consequences of loneliness for mental and physical health.”
Global Gender Gap Report 2022 (World Economic Forum): Ranked #27 out of 146 countries in 2021 regarding gender gap, where #1 indicates the greatest gender equality in education, economic participation and opportunity, etc. Ranked #51 in educational attainment, #22 in economic participation and opportunity, #38 in political empowerment, #83 in health and survival,
Nation Brands Index: In 2023, ranked #6 out of 60 countries on a scale that measures “perceptions of nations around the world.” Survey measures national images in culture, tourism, exports, immigration and investment, the people, and governance.
Best Countries: (From US News and World Report) In 2024, ranked #3 out of 89 countries in survey that measures “global performance on a variety of metrics.”
Country Brand (Bloom Consulting): In 2024/25, ranked #3 in business (trade) index and #4 in tourism index, out of “almost 200 countries and territories.” “
I included Wayne’s entire note because the Lipset quote at the beginning is a crucial reminder of why these evaluations are relevant. I doubt he sees these cited indices as definitive but illustrative.
Most Americans never depart the country, don’t hold passports, and see no need to compare us with anyone else which is fine except that we then assert we are so far superior without evaluative criteria or data. I have no doubt several of these indicators will surprise many but they are wide-ranging as befits a comparative analysis of how we contrast with others. In this highly polarized America, people seem to select a single criterion to laud or criticize our country. Wayne has not done that above, providing instead several evaluations by U.S. domestic analysts as well as globally respected groups such as the Economist Intelligence Unit.
I welcome any and all feedback as I know he will. As a paid subscriber, Wayne has access to any posted comments by other subscribers (they pay $55—just barely more than a $1 weekly to access the formal comment section. You two can subscribe). I will forward anything else you send me that may help him expand his thinking as I deeply hope this topic expands your own.
I also want to mention another subscriber who notified me yesterday of his nomination as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment. Col Dale Marks, USAF, was my student trip leader in 2008 as he and others on the Taiwan and Japan Field Study learned about the challenges developing in east Asia. Dale, a Distinguished Graduate from his War College program, subsequently served the National Guard Bureau, the Defense Industrial Board, various Air Force Department positions, and in a couple of other national security roles. Dale’s active duty and Guard experience in the cockpit spanned twenty-four years in four air frames. He currently is responsible for leading 10,000 uniformed and civilian personnel at the Elgin Air Force Base as Executive Director. Dale remains one of the most impressive students, based on talent/experience/temperament, I met over thirty years.
I don’t know Dale’s politics nor do I care, though I know him pretty well. The note he sent me yesterday but merely a brief notification with the link to a newspaper mention in the Eglin area. I mention his nomination because he is an experienced and talented national security professional asked to be a public servant in the most fraught environment of my lifetime. As we struggle through a period of profound doubt seemingly across the board about government, I ask you to consider the following amid the wide array views regarding those who agree to public service: isn’t public service for our—your and my—government still a noble task for whom we want the best candidates we can find?
I welcome your many reactions to today’s column with its two foci; I expect many.
Thank you for your time. I appreciate the subscribers who contribute to the column and the readers who dive in daily. If you find this of value, please feel free to circulate it.
We didn’t have the promised snow but it’s still dreary today in the Chesapeake. But, spring’s not that far and pitchers and catchers report soon (I hope).
Be well and be safe. FIN
Jared Williams, “Trump nominates Elgin AFB’s Dale Marks to lead DoD’s energy and environment work“, getthecoast.com, 4 February 2025, retrieved at https://www.getthecoast.com/trump-nominates-eglin-afbs-dale-marks-to-lead-dods-energy-and-environment-work/