On patriotism issue
Abdulgamid’s original post in Russian, 23.07.07. Translated by Merdjen
The World Bank evaluated the effectiveness of governance performance of more than 200 countries and territories in its report Governance Matters 2007: Worldwide Governance Indicators 1996-2006.
The most efficient governments were considered those of Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Iceland by WB experts. These countries earned such high ratings for their political stability, regulatory quality, control of corruption and accountability. Countries at the end of the list were Congo, Iraq and Somali.
Armenia and Baltic states were ahead of all among post-Soviet countries. Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan also left the outsiders Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan behind.
The only comforting fact is that Ukraine stands right next after leading Baltic states. Certainly, a conclusion suggests itself that this particular assessment was designed rather not according to “political stability, regulatory quality, control of corruption, accountability and voice”, but based on a more significant factor – accountability to and voice of the West. Otherwise, nothing else from could be argued for Ukraine.
Results of the research, conducted in the United States for draft of the annual Report on Freedom of Religion in the world, recognized Latvia as a religiously free country.
Research categorized countries into seven groups. USA, Ireland, Hungary and Estonia were distinguished as most free ones. They were placed in the first group. Respectively, second group also is for those practicing freedom of religion – Latvia, Lithuania and northern states.
The worst situation is in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, North Korea, Sudan and five other Arabic countries.
Once again, both Uzbeks and us are at the last place! Apparently Turkmenistan jointly with Uzbekistan should conduct similar research. And then we’ll see who will get included in the first and who will be in the seventh group. Besides, black people do not face racial discrimination in Turkmenistan .
on July 26th, 2007 at 9:01 am
I am afraid trying to improve Turkmenistan’s image at least in the West would be like spitting against the wind. The odds are so unfortunate.
on July 26th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Again, why try to impress the west or anybody for that matter ????
There are not many countries in the world where you can get into a bus, train or a metro and not be afraid its gonna explode. Some might say thats because we dont have a metro, but actual reason is because we have peace. You sleep at night soundly, knowing that unless a natural disaster happens, you will wake up in the morning. In villages people sleep outside. I love this country for what it is, and for what it can become. We are not in a hurry to impress or imitate anyone. We have our own way………
on July 26th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
hmm.. indeed, I find this research of World Bank (WB) inaccurate..
If the topic is “effectiveness of governance performance “, then Turkmenistan must have a leading effective ranking.. because, the government does its job really well.. but only if it is their intention to do so.. policies are so tight that there is no room to escape in TM.. but officials must be willing to do so..
I find this WB research very biased because their focus is the Freedom of Religion.. Yes, we dont have too many religions.. they might not have their ’sacred domes’..
and there are no too many mosques as in other muslim countries even though the majority of the society is muslim..
I support what policy Turkmenistan is following in terms of religion..
at the same time, I dont understand why the World Bank is obsessed with freedom of religion?.. World Bank, as is worldly known, is a international institution that facilitates the cross-border trade, payment system and the macroeconomic stability.. Or, should we call it now something like ‘Undersecretariat of Vatican Pope’ ?
on July 28th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
Anna, if you look through Abdulgamid’s post again, you’ll see that he writes on two different separate researches, one by WB and another by the US gov’t (i guess)
you can find full WB report “Governanve matters 2007″ here http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi2007/
you can learn more about variables, methodology, analysis and results.
Begenc, maybe reading the goals and objectives of WB (WGI) project would help you too
on August 3rd, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Brilliant!