One of my university lecturer's said in class that we are in a strange place in history. For the first time ever, there are arguably more democratic states (bearing in mind the variety of types of democracies around) than non-democratic states, and that academics are unsure of what the impact of that will be.
Unfortunately, things are not looking good:
Global freedom suffered its fifth consecutive year of decline in 2010, according to Freedom in the World 2011, Freedom House’s annual assessment of political rights and civil liberties around the world. This represents the longest continuous period of decline in the nearly 40-year history of the survey. The year featured drops in the number of Free countries and the number of electoral democracies, as well as an overall deterioration for freedom in the Middle East and North Africa region.
A total of 25 countries showed significant declines in 2010, more than double the 11 countries exhibiting noteworthy gains. The number of countries designated as Free fell from 89 to 87, and the number of electoral democracies dropped to 115, far below the 2005 figure of 123. In addition, authoritarian regimes like those in China, Egypt, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela continued to step up repressive measures with little significant resistance from the democratic world.
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Published annually since 1972, Freedom in the World examines the ability of individuals to exercise their political and civil rights in 194 countries and 14 territories around the world. The latest edition analyzes developments that occurred in 2010 and assigns each country a freedom status—Free, Partly Free, or Not Free—based on a scoring of performance on key democracy indicators.
Four countries received status declines, including Ukraine and Mexico, which both fell from Free to Partly Free. Mexico’s downgrade was a result of the government’s inability to stem the tide of violence by drug-trafficking groups, while Ukraine suffered from deteriorating levels of press freedom, instances of election fraud, and growing politicization of the judiciary. Djibouti and Ethiopia were downgraded from Partly Free to Not Free. Other countries showing declines included Bahrain, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, France, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela.
A colour coded map of Free, Partly Free and Not Free states(PDF)
Worrying signs for the future, or a bump in the road?
Monday, January 17, 2011
Freedom House's "Freedom Watch" 2011
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Glad to have found your blog. Very interesting and the map invokes a lot of thought. Reading your post my mind was drawn to the recent Sudan split. I note Sudan is listed as 'not free'. My thoughts are will the new country of South Sudan follow the same path of classification? It's an interesting period in world history I agree.
ReplyDeleteHi Dave, thanks for commenting :-)
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting question, but it likely wouldn't appear until next year's Freedom Watch, since the referendum didn't take place until January this year.
Southern Sudan is going to be something to keep an eye on...can they build a stable democracy from the ground up - and who will be willing to help?