It is actually interesting to look a little deeper at the rankings. The US ranks relatively poorly in 3 categories:
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Massive Movement of Refugees or Internally Displaced Persons creating Complex Humanitarian Emergencies
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Uneven Economic Development along Group Lines
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Suspension or Arbitrary Application of the Rule of Law and Widespread Violation of Human Rights
With respect to the first of these categories, the US scored a 5.5, a little better than Malta (6.1), Latvia (5.7) and SAfrica (6) but worse than Huga Chavez’s Venezuela (5.2). I’m not sure if this refers to the US immigration problem (probably) or to those people displaced by Hurricane Katrina who still had not been relocated in 2006.
As for Uneven Economic Development, this probably reflects growing income inequality in the US and while true may not be on the same scale as that found in places like Armenia (6) since while there is income inequality very few Americans are impoverished by world standards.
Finally, the US scores 4.6 regarding human rights and arbitrary detentions, on a par with Mali (4.6) and Croatia (4.5). This clearly must be a reflection of Guantanamo Bay and the more onerous provisions of the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act.
SS