EIU democracy index
The Economist Intelligence Unit has released an index of democracies [PDF] in which it ranks full democracies, flawed democracies, "hybrid systems" and authoritarian regimes. Egypt and Morocco are both at the same rank (115) in the last category -- here's Moroccan blogger Larbi's take on it -- while the US, UK, France or Japan don't even make it to the top 10 or top 15.
As a Moroccan who lives in Egypt, I'm often interested in comparing the two countries. I am generally speaking more optimistic about Morocco than I am about Egypt, but then again I am also harsher on Morocco because I don't think it can afford not to move forward. Politically, it is a much more unstable place than Egypt and some of the social problems there are much more acute than those here. My overall impression, though, is that Morocco would deserve to be further up ahead than Egypt if it wasn't for the fact that King Muhammad VI continues to retain political, constitutional, moral and economic power over Moroccans than Hosni Mubarak could only dream of.
As a Moroccan who lives in Egypt, I'm often interested in comparing the two countries. I am generally speaking more optimistic about Morocco than I am about Egypt, but then again I am also harsher on Morocco because I don't think it can afford not to move forward. Politically, it is a much more unstable place than Egypt and some of the social problems there are much more acute than those here. My overall impression, though, is that Morocco would deserve to be further up ahead than Egypt if it wasn't for the fact that King Muhammad VI continues to retain political, constitutional, moral and economic power over Moroccans than Hosni Mubarak could only dream of.