At the end of 2019, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) published the 2019 edition of its democracy index where the state of democracy in over 165 independent states and two territories were examined across five categories, electoral process and pluralism; the functioning of government; political participation; political culture; and civil liberties.
Why This Matters
From Hong Kong to Russia and Iran, and Algeria and Sudan, 2019 was a year in protests and civil resistance. Declining trust in government and state institutions around the world has citizens are demanding better from their leaders. Asides the news articles and photos that show us how people feel, data is important in measuring and validating these experiences.
What Does the Report Say?
2019 was a bad year for democracy all around the world but particularly in Africa and Latin America where there has been a decline in civil liberties, media freedom and freedom of speech. But on the flip side, despite the odds, there has been an increase in political participation. In 2019 the average global democracy score fell from 5.48 in 2018 to 5.44 (on a 0-10 scale), the lowest since the Democracy Index began in 2006. As the pandemic rocked the start of 2020, we have seen stifled human rights across the continent.
To put things in perspective, countries were grouped into four categories:
Full democracies: These are countries in which basic political freedoms and civil liberties are respected, media is free and independent and the judiciary is independent. Countries in this category include Norway Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand and Finland. These are the top 5 countries with the best democracies in the world. Other countries included in this category include Canada, Netherlands and Germany. Mauritius is the only African Country in this category.
Flawed democracies: These countries have free and fair elections, basic civil liberties are respected but there are problems such as infringements on media freedom, and low levels of political participation. South Korea topped the Flawed Democracies list alongside Japan, USA, Malta and Estonia. African countries in this category include Lesotho, Cabo Verde, South Africa, Ghana and Botswana.
Hybrid regimes: In these countries, elections have substantial irregularities that often prevent them from being both free and fair, corruption tends to be widespread and the rule of law is weak. Civil society is weak, there is harassment of journalists, and the judiciary is not independent. North Macedonia and Ukraine topped the list for Hybrid regimes. Many African countries fall under this category, including Senegal, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.
Authoritarian regimes: In these states, state political pluralism is absent, lections, (if they do occur) are not free and fair, there are infringements of civil liberties and media are typically state-owned or controlled by groups connected to the ruling regime. There is no independent judiciary. Qatar, Eritrea, Rwanda, are under this category. Chad, Syria, CAR, DRC, North Korea were the last five in this category, making them the least democratic countries in the world. Most African countries are ranked here.
Spectacular Findings
- The biggest democracy in the world, India, dropped ten places in the Democracy Index’s global ranking, to 51st place due to an erosion of civil liberties in the country.
- Sub-Saharan Africa experienced significant democratic regression in 2019. The region’s average score in the Democracy Index fell to 4.26 in 2019, from 4.36 in 2018; This is the lowest average score for Sub-Saharan Africa since 2010,
- Countries in western Europe occupy seven of the top-ten places in the global democracy rankings, including the top three spots, and has the largest number of “full democracies” anywhere in the world.
- Eastern Europe does not have a single “full democracy”, and it is also the region that has deteriorated the most since the Democracy Index was established in 2006
- The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s average score in 2019 was the same as it was when the index was first published in 2006.
- In the Arab countries, the efforts of the Arab Spring rising are waning. Even Tunisia, the originating centre of that uprise slipped by 12 places in the global ranking.
- The US, fell below the threshold for a “full democracy” since 2016 owing to a decline in public trust in US institutions, after the election of Donald Trump. It is left to see whether this could affect his winning the presidency in November.
Bottomline
Lesotho, a “Flawed Democracy” in a continent where most of the countries are authoritarian and Hybrid regimes became the first African country to charge a sitting prime minister for a crime despite his immunity of office. He resigned recently to face the charges against him. This shows how better democracies empower citizens to hold their leaders accountable and have them work in the interest of the people. What other thing do countries with strong democracies have in common? Reduced conflicts within their borders as strong democracies are less likely to engage in war with other states or participate in civil wars
