Annual report by prominent think tank finds civil liberties under pressure in many parts of the world.
Democracy declined around the world for a sixth straight year in 2022 as half the world’s countries declined on indicators such as freedom of expression and political participation, according to a prominent think tank.
In its annual report released this week, the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) said 85 of the 173 countries surveyed had suffered a decline in at least one key indicator of democratic performance. the last five years.
“In short, democracy is still in trouble, at best stagnant and in decline in many places,” IDEA Secretary General Kevin Casas-Zamora said in his Global State of Democracy 2023 report.
The six-year decline is the longest period of Democratic decline since records began in 1975.
Casas-Zamora attributed the decline to the global weakening of democratic institutions that otherwise help ensure human rights and the rule of law.
“But while many of our formal institutions, such as legislatures, are weakening, there is hope that these more informal checks and balances, from journalists to election organizers and anti-corruption commissioners, can successfully combat authoritarian and populist tendencies.” he said in the report.
The year 2022 was also challenged by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, COVID-19, climate change, and the cost-of-living crisis that accompanied rising inflation and the post-pandemic global economic recession.
Europe was named as the region with the highest performance in democratic terms, but also the scene of regression in newer democracies such as Hungary, but also in long-standing democracies including the United Kingdom. In Eastern Europe and Asia, countries such as Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia and Turkey scored poorly.
In the Americas, the United States moved backwards due to “declining social group equality,” as did Guatemala and El Salvador, both of which saw widespread political unrest and human rights abuses in 2022.
In Africa the decline was marked by a wave of coups.
IDEA bases its indicators on more than 100 variables related to political issues, such as representation, rights, rule of law, and participation.