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Freedom House describes itself as "a non-profit, nonpartisan organization" that is "a clear voice for democracy and freedom around the world". Founded in the 1940s, it produces reports on the progress of democracy and freedom in the government of countries around the world, and produces annual scores representing countries' progress (or otherwise) towards freedom.
For example, in their 2003 report, United States (which was judged as fully democratic) got a perfect score of a "1" in civil liberties and a "1" in political rights, earning them the rank of "free." The more oppressive nation of Nigeria got a "5" and a "4" earning them the rank of "Partly Free," while an out and out dictatorship like North Korea scored the lowest rank of "7-7", and was thus dubbed "not free."
Freedom House also produces annual reports on press freedom, governance in the nations of the former Soviet Union, freedom of women in the Middle East, and good governance in countries being considered for President George W. Bush's Millennium Challenge Account foreign aid program.
Freedom House is a non-profit organization, funded by donations. Past donors include USAID, the Bradley Foundation, the Kirby Foundation and the Sarah Scaife Foundation.
Nations in Freedom House's reports and website are usually grouped with historical and cultural criteria, rather than strictly geographical ones. For example:
- The nations of Middle East and North Africa are grouped together.
- The Cold war-era political definition of Western EuropeWestern Europe is distinguished from Central Europe and Eastern Europe by differences of history and culture rather than by geography. However, these boundaries of Europe are subject to considerable overlap and fluctuation, which makes differentiation dif is used, in which nations such as TurkeyTurkey (officially the Republic of Turkey Turkish Turkiye is a country located in Southwest Asia with a small part in southeastern Europe. Until 1922 the country was the center of the Ottoman Empire. The Anatolian peninsula, between the Black Sea and the, GreeceGreece formally called the Hellenic Republic (in Greek: ) Hellenike Demokratia , is a country in the southeast of Europe on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula. It is bounded on land by Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania and CyprusCyprus (in Greek Kypros Κυπρος; and in Turkish Kibris is an island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, 113 kilometres (70 miles) south of Turkey and around 120 km west of Syrian coast. Name and position The English-langua are all considered Western European nations.
- Eastern EuropeEastern Europe is, by convention, a region defined geographically as that part of Europe covering the eastern part of the continent. Generally this means that it lies between the Ural and Caucasus mountains and the western border of Russia, or alternative encompasses (seemingly paradoxically) all countries formerly part of the Soviet Union, even ones located firmly in AsiaThe continent of Asia is defined by subtracting Europe and Africa from the great land mass of Africa-Eurasia. The boundaries are vague, especially between Asia and Europe: Asia and Africa meet somewhere near the Suez Canal. The boundary between Asia and E, such as TajikistanThe Republic of Tajikistan , formerly known as the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic is a country in Central Asia. It has borders with Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan. Jumhurii Tojikiston ( In Detail) ( Full size) National motto: none Official la or Uzbekistan.
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