US Discontent: A leader in Dysfuntional Democracy

http://www.alternet.org/world/soaring-discontent-democratic-governments?akid=12717.294211.PsySFA&rd=1&src=newsletter1030792&t=21

Almost half the world’s 167 countries claim to be democratic, but according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest global Democracy Index that is a mirage because popular discontent with democratic governments is growing worldwide.
“Europe is home to the most ‘full democracies,’ but it is here that popular discontent with dempcracy is most evident,” the Economist reported. “Only 12.5 percent of the world’s population live in a full democracy… More than one-third of the world’s population (some 2.6 billion people) still live under authoritarian rule.”
The United States is at the bottom of the barrel of “full democracies,” ranking 19 out of the 24 countries, just below the Pacific Island country of Mauritius and South America’s Uraguay. Northern Europe is still tops, led by Norway. Canada is seventh.