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Most favoured nation | The Economist

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From the print edition

Our country of the year

Most favoured nation

Which country improved the most in 2015?

IF OUR “country of the year” award went to the place
that grabbed the most headlines, Russia would be
hard to beat. But we do not wish to honour military
adventurism, domestic repression and the burning of
perfectly good foreign cheese, so Vladimir Putin will
have to make do with the Chinese peace prize he won
in 2011. Likewise, Islamic State, though it forced itself
into the news more than most countries in 2015, is
disqualified because it is not a nation but an
abomination.

We prefer to recognise a country that has made the world a better place. And, amid the
drumbeat of bad news, it is cheering how many contenders there are. America, among
others, legalised gay marriage. It also restored diplomatic ties with Cuba and reached a
nuclear agreement with Iran. China relaxed its cruel onechild policy somewhat. All couples
will now be allowed two babies. And as a token of the Communist Party’s compassion, the
millions of children born without permission will soon be allowed access to public services,
from which they were previously excluded. Nigeria saw its first peaceful ejection of an
incumbent president at the ballot box. Voters replaced the hapless Goodluck Jonathan with
Muhammadu Buhari, who makes the right noises about corruption and appears to have
beaten back the jihadists of Boko Haram.

In Latin America the “pink tide” of leftwing populism began to
turn. Venezuela’s opposition won twothirds of the seats in the
National Assembly, and may curb the excesses of President
Nicolás Maduro and his rotten, inept and authoritarian regime.
In Argentina voters rejected the chosen heir of Cristina
Fernández de Kirchner for Mauricio Macri, who must now
clean up her legacy of wild inflation, ruinous economic
controls, dodgy statistics and the subversion of democratic
institutions. In Guatemala a who’s who of the political elite,
including the former president, were arrested for alleged graft.
Jimmy Morales, a comedian, won the presidency with the
slogan “neither corrupt, nor a thief”. Colombia may soon sign
a deal to end the longestrunning guerrilla war in the
Americas.

Europe saw an alarming surge of xenophobic populism, but
French voters thwarted Marine Le Pen’s National Front in
regional polls. Germany—along with Sweden—welcomed lots

of Syrian refugees. Ireland, once written off as a Celtic calamity, posted tigerish growth of
7%.

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Valuing a close

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The value of the close economic connection
between Western Europe and Central and
Eastern Europe and Russia summarised in a
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Find out how the interconnection between the
regions has led to increased employment,
improved GDP and added value to key
economies in the region since 1995.

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26.12.2015

Most favoured nation | The Economist

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Myanmar in graphics: An unfinished peace

Sympathy for Syrians
The Middle East had a wretched year, but there were outbreaks of generosity. Jordan and
Lebanon hosted far more refugees from the bombs, bullets and beheadings of Syria and
Iraq than any rich European nation. In Jordan they are nearly a tenth of the population; in
Lebanon, a quarter. But in neither country are they formally allowed to work. Moreover,
Jordan could be quite a bit kinder to its longstanding population of Palestinian refugees, and
Lebanon is so badly governed that the rubbish is piling up in the streets.

Our winner, therefore, is Myanmar. Five
years ago it was a larcenous dictatorship
where even pictures of Aung San Suu Kyi,
the opposition leader, were banned from
newspapers. In November Miss Suu Kyi’s
party won 77% of the vote. The army, which
retains huge privileges, appears ready to
share power. It could still go wrong.
(Myanmar still treats the Rohingya and other
minorities disgracefully.) But the country’s
transition to something resembling democracy has come faster than anyone dared expect.
For that, Myanmar wins the prize.

From the print edition: Leaders

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