For the second year in a row, New Zealand has topped the Global Peace Index. The index combines statistics on internal and external conflicts, military spending, and violent crime to produce an overall measure of how peaceful a society is. New Zealand actually reduced its score from last year, but the reason is amusing. it is due to:
an improvement in political stability. This reflects the strong popular mandate for the centre-right National Party and its robust parliamentary majority. In November 2009, a year after it ended the Labour Party’s nine-year period in office, the centre-right National Party extended its lead in opinion polls. The personal approval rating of the prime minister, John Key, remained very strong, and confidence in the government and its handling of the economy rose during the year...So John Key is the Prince of Peace, at least according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. But digging deeper, their measure of political stability is a little screwy, including not just the concentration of executive power, clear constitutional mechanisms for changes of government, and potential of social unrest, but also
How likely is it that an opposition party or group will come to power and cause a significant deterioration in business operating conditions?In a peace index, you'd expect them to care about how likely is it that an opposition party or group will come to power and cause a significant deterioration in international relations, social unrest, or human rights. But that's The Economist for you, and its clear what they care about: business, not people.
The full index is here. The report from which the above quotes are taken is here [PDF].
