Freedom in the World 2015: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties [Hardcover]

Freedom in the World, the Freedom House flagship survey whose findings have been published annually since 1972, is the standard-setting comparative assessment of global political rights and civil liberties. The survey ratings and narrative reports on 195 countries and fourteen territories are used by policymakers, the media, international corporations, civic activists, and human rights defenders to monitor trends in democracy and track improvements and setbacks in freedom worldwide.

The Freedom in the World political rights and civil liberties ratings are determined through a multi-layered process of research and evaluation by a team of regional analysts and eminent scholars. The analysts used a broad range of sources of information, including foreign and domestic news reports, academic studies, nongovernmental organizations, think tanks, individual professional contacts, and visits to the region, in conducting their research. The methodology of the survey is derived in large measure from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and these standards are applied to all countries and territories, irrespective of geographical location, ethnic or religious composition, or level of economic development.

This latest edition of the annual survey conducted by the Freedom House and published by Rowman and Littlefield has been issued every year since 1972 in the attempt to measure the degree of democracy and political freedom in every nation and significant disputed territory globally. The Freedom House rankings are widely used and often treated as both standard-setting and authoritative by academics, the media, policy makers, and civic activists, as well as by the United Nations and the World Bank, to name a few of the survey's intended readers. The work is arranged alphabetically by nation or territory andlÓ)