Can freedom be measured Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Can freedom be measured - Essay Example Can freedom be measured? In some fashion, it would appear so, as many organisations and institutions attempt to quantify freedom utilising various matrices founded on specific criteria which is intended to define freedom. However, the operational definition of what legitimately constitutes freedom, in a fashion that would satisfy the majority, has yet to be developed which makes freedom measurement difficult to justify using existing criteria in various quantitative or qualitative measurement instruments. Hanke and Walters (1997) sees freedom as being invariably linked with political factors, such as the presence of democratic systems within a state and individual wealth. With this in mind, in democratic structures, many nation states attempt to create capitalistic systems, an economic and social system where various economic assets are owned and managed by private individuals, where capital gains are allocated to private ownership, and where pricing is determined by private business with very limited regulation of these capital assets by dominating or oppressive political actors (Degen 2008). If we are to view freedom from an economic perspective, then freedom can most assuredly be measured statistically. An individual attempting to measure freedom could potentially examine the distribution of wealth within a nation and determine whether the majority of wealth is held within elite ruling regimes with considerable power and authority or whether these assets are controlled by the majo rity of a citizenry. Utilising graphic representations, it would illustrate whether this economy being evaluated maintains significant capitalistic tendencies, as compared to other nations where assets are controlled by government, to determine whether this society is freer than another. Of course, such a statistical measurement would be dependent on wealth as a