The Democracy Report 2022: what it says.
~Preet
According to the newest analysis from Sweden's University of Gothenburg's V-Dem Institute, the average worldwide citizen's degree of democracy in 2021 is down to 1989 levels, with the post-Cold War period's democratic achievements fading swiftly in recent years. The title of the report is 'Democracy Report 2022: Autocratisation Changing Nature?' Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) creates the world's biggest democracy dataset, containing over 30 million data points for 202 nations from 1789 to 2021. The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance previously issued the Global State of Democracy Report, 2021. (International-IDEA).
The research categorises nations into four regime categories based on their Liberal Democratic Index (LDI) scores: Liberal Democracy, Electoral Democracy, Electoral Autocracy, and Closed Autocracy. Based on 71 factors that comprise the Liberal Component Index (LCI) and the Electoral Democracy Index (EDI), the LDI encompasses both liberal (individual and minority rights) and electoral components (free and fair elections) of a democracy (EDI). The LCI evaluates indicators that enable free and fair elections, such as freedom of expression and freedom of association, whereas the EDI considers indicators that guarantee individual rights and legislative limits on the executive. Furthermore, the LDI employs an Egalitarian Component Index (how equitable various social groups are), a Participatory Component Index (the health of citizen groups and civil society organisations), and a Deliberative Component Index (whether political decisions are taken through public reasoning focused on common good or through emotional appeals, solidarity attachments, coercion).
Sweden led the LDI index, with other Scandinavian nations such as Denmark and Norway, as well as Costa Rica and New Zealand, rounding out the top five liberal democracy rankings. India is part of a larger worldwide trend in which an anti-plural political party drives a country's autocracy. India was placed 93rd in the LDI, putting it in the "lowest 50%" of countries. It has dropped further in the Electoral Democracy Index, to 100, and even further in the Deliberative Component Index, to 102. In South Asia, India ranks below Sri Lanka (88), Nepal (71), and Bhutan (65), but above Pakistan (117) in the LDI.
Autocracy is fast spreading, with a total of 33 countries autocratizing. In contrast to the average of 1.2 coups each year, 2021 witnessed a record 6 coups, culminating in the establishment of four new autocracies: Chad, Guinea, Mali, and Myanmar. While the number of liberal democracies was 42 in 2012, it has now dropped to its lowest level in over 25 years, with only 34 nations and 13 percent of the total population living in liberal democracies. Between 2020 and 2021, the number of closed autocracies, or dictatorships, increased from 25 to 30. Today, the globe contains 89 democracies and 90 autocracies, with electoral autocracy still the most prevalent regime type, accounting for 60 nations and 44 percent of the global population, or 3.4 billion people. Electoral democracies were the second most frequent kind of rule, accounting for 55 nations and 16% of the global population. "Toxic polarisation" is a major driver of autocratisation. Polarisation has been characterised as a phenomena that undermines respect for opposing ideas and associated features of democracy's deliberative component. It is a dominant tendency in 40 nations, as contrasted to 5 countries where growing polarisation was observed in 2011. Toxic levels of polarisation contribute to anti-pluralist politicians' election successes and the empowering of their dictatorial agendas. The paper notes that "measures of polarisation of society, political polarisation, and political parties' use of hate speech tend to systematically grow together to extreme levels," noting that "polarisation and autocratisation are mutually reinforcing."
"Misinformation" has been highlighted as a fundamental tactic used by autocratic administrations to polarise and mould local and international opinion. Other methods used by autocratic governments were repression of civil society and media control. While freedom of expression fell in a record 35 nations in 2021, with just 10 improving, persecution of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) increased in 44 countries during the previous ten years, "placing it at the very top of the indices affected by autocratisation." Furthermore, in 37 countries, direct government control over the establishment of CSOs has shifted toward authoritarianism — "proof of the far-reaching erosion of civil society throughout the world." In 25 nations, the Electoral Management Body's (EMB) decision-making authority has worsened.
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