The latest United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), which combines per capita income, educational enrollment and life expectancy, confirms that after a long run in the No. 1 spot, Canada is no longer what our Prime Minister is pleased to call "the best country in the world." Last year we slipped down third spot; this year, we remain at No. 3. When the level of poverty and other measures of inequality are included, Canada drops to 12th place -- behind Spain and Italy.

There is a message in these figures that we seldom hear these days. Despite globalization, European integration, the demise of state socialism and the ubiquity of the American model, the Scandinavian welfare state has not only defied those who predicted its demise, but has prospered.

How has this been brought about? My research focuses on what I term "civic literacy." High civic-literacy countries in Scandinavia and Northern Europe typically adopt policies to encourage media consumption and adult education, improving the quality and availability of information for partisan political debate. Better policy discussion leads, ultimately, to better policies.

Because informed individuals can better identify the policy options of different parties, and thus their effect upon their own interests and those of others, it is not surprising that the distance between rich and poor is smaller in the high civic-literacy countries. Those excluded through lack of civic competence from informed participation tend to be those at the bottom of the social ladder, and they pay the cost.

Civic literacy is central to Scandinavian social democracy. The official position paper on EU membership of the Swedish Social Democratic Party begins by proclaiming: "that everybody is both desirous and capable of . . . acquiring knowledge and insights which will enable him to play a part in the life of the community."

The late Swedish prime minister Olof Palme once said that he preferred to think of Sweden not as a social democracy but as a "study-circle democracy." The idea of a "study-circle democracy" is associated most of all with the efforts of the ABF (the Workers' Educational Association), affiliated with the main trade-union confederation, LO, and the Social Democratic Party. In Umea (the city in the north of Sweden where I teach), the ABF offers courses in organizing groups and co-operatives, understanding media, and a broad range of contemporary issues, as well as languages, computers, art, music, and nature appreciation. ABF is the largest of 11 adult education associations that together annually organize study circles for just under half of Swedish adults.

Perhaps even more important in enhancing civic literacy are policies that reduce dependence on commercial electronic media by promoting newspaper reading and the development and use of non-commercial electronic sources of public-affairs knowledge. Norway, Finland and Sweden subsidize daily newspapers that are not leaders in their markets. The subsidies traditionally account for 3 to 4 per cent of all newspaper revenues. This is one reason why every day there is one daily newspaper printed for every two Scandinavians, compared to less than 1 for every five Canadians. And, with practically everyone reading newspapers, we should not be surprised that the Swedes led the International Adult Literacy Survey, with only 6 per cent of functionally illiterate adults, one-third the proportion in Canada and one quarter that in the United States.

Related to such measures are concerted efforts to encourage the reading of books, through both subsidies to publishing and distribution, and programs offered by local public libraries. Libraries in Sweden, for example, provide free home delivery for shut-ins and services to hospitals and homes for the elderly. And a special newspaper, 8 Sidor, containing national and international news articles written in easy Swedish for those with learning difficulties or new to the Swedish language, is widely distributed.

District public-health nurses, at the time of the first post-natal home visit, leave behind The Child's First Book, a compilation of rhymes and stories for children, to underscore that reading, like proper nutrition and hygiene, is vital to the development of a healthy child.

Despite the recent inroads of commercial broadcasting, it is still fair to say that in all four Nordic countries public-service channels remain dominant, if not always in audience share, certainly in setting the standard for news and public affairs. The proportion of Swedes watching at least one of the public television news broadcasts has remained steady, even among young people.

Civic literacy is also enhanced by regulations governing the availability and accessibility of information related to the public interest. Regulations ensure accessibility of information. All tax-return information is in the public domain, and all public institutions must open their books to interested citizens, with ombudspersons appointed to ensure that this is done. Measures currently being implemented will make access to high-speed Internet links effectively universal.

All of this means that the great majority of citizens is able to gain the necessary knowledge to make rational, informed choices and apply them to the decision-making process. As the UN data show, such societies can benefit from the advantages of globalization without having a substantial minority of its citizens unfairly pay the cost, as is the case in societies with low civic literacy. Canada is following the United States down the low civic-literacy road -- but there's still time to turn onto the high civic-literacy road.
Henry Milner is a political scientist and co-editor of INROADS. This article is based on research in his new book: Civic Literacy: How Informed Citizens Make Democracy Work.