The US has joined the annual list of ‘backsliding’ democracies for the first time

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STOCKHOLM – The United States has joined the annual list of “backsliding” democracies for the first time, the International IDEA think tank said on Monday, pointing to a “visible breakdown” it says began in 2019.

Worldwide, more than one in four people live in a declining democracy, a proportion that rises to more than two in three with the addition of authorities or “hybrid” regimes, according to the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

“This year we coded the United States as backsliding for the first time, but our data suggests that the backsliding episode began at least in 2019,” it said in its report titled Global State of Democracy 2021.

“The United States is a high -performing democracy, and has further improved its performance on indicators of impartial administration (corruption and unpredictable enforcement) by 2020. However, declining civil liberties and government scrutiny indicates that there are serious problems with the basics of democracy, ”said Alexander Hudson, a co-author of the report.

“A historic turning point came in 2020-21 when former president Donald Trump questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election results in the United States,” the report said.

In addition, Hudson pointed to a “decline in the quality of freedom of association and assembly during the summer of protests in 2020” following the police murder of George Floyd.

International IDEA bases its assessments on 50 years of democratic indicators in approximately 160 countries, assigning them to three categories: democracies-including “departed”-“hybrid” governments and authoritarian regime.

‘Runaway polarization’

“The visible deterioration of democracy in the United States, as seen in the rising tendency to oppose credible election results, efforts to suppress participation (in elections), and runaway polarization … is one of the most disturbing developments, ”said International IDEA Secretary-General Kevin Casas-Zamora.

He warned of a knock-on effect, citing: “The violent 2020 election contest without any evidence of fraud is being replicated, in different ways, in places as diverse as Myanmar, Peru and Israel. . “

The number of returning democracies has doubled in the past decade, now making up a quarter of the world’s population. In addition to “established democracies” such as the US, the list includes EU member states Hungary, Poland and Slovenia.

Flowers and signs were seen outside the location of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis last month. | BLOOMBERG

Two countries that were on last year’s list – Ukraine and North Macedonia – were removed this year after their situations improved.

Two others, Mali and Serbia, left the list because they were no longer considered democracies.

As Myanmar moved from a democracy to an authoritarian regime, Afghanistan and Mali entered this category from their former hybrid government label.

Becoming authoritarian

For the fifth consecutive year, by 2020, countries turning to authoritarianism are more likely than those who favor democratization.

International IDEA expects this trend to continue for 2021.

For this year, according to the group’s provisional analysis, the world counts 98 democracies – the lowest number in many years – as well as 20 “hybrid” governments including Russia, Morocco and Turkey, and 47 authoritarian regimes. including China, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia. and Iran.

Adding returning democracies to hybrid and authoritarian states, “we’re talking about 70% of the world’s population,” Casas-Zamora said.

“That tells you that there’s something fundamentally serious going on with the quality of democracy,” he added.

The report said the trend towards democratic collapse has “become more acute and disturbing” since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“Some countries, particularly Hungary, India, the Philippines and the USA, are (imposing) measures equivalent to democratic violations – that is, measures that are disproportionate, illegal, indefinite or unrelated to the nature of emergency, “the report said. .

“The pandemic has certainly accelerated and exacerbated some of the negative trends, especially in areas where democracy and the rule of law were sick before the pandemic,” Casas-Zamora said.

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