EDITORIAL: As global headlines continue to be dominated by news of wars, immigration crises, flawed electoral exercises and erosion of fundamental rights, it is no surprise then that democratic standards have witnessed a significant downslide the world over in the last year as recorded by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU’s) Democracy Index for 2023.
The index, covering almost the entire population of the world, classifies countries as one of four types of regime: “full democracy”, “flawed democracy”, “hybrid regime” or “authoritarian regime”, with its findings revealing that the overarching reality for many countries in 2023 was of totalitarian regimes successfully solidifying their grip on power, while hybrid regimes failed to break the shackles that constrain them to fully democratise. This has resulted in only around eight percent of the world’s population living in a “full democracy”, while almost 40 percent of the global population languishes under despotic dispensations.
The phenomenon of increasing totalitarianism, unfortunately but hardly surprisingly, was best represented by Pakistan, which suffered the biggest regression in Asia, causing it to be demoted from the “hybrid regime” category to that of “authoritarian regime”, and a drop of a troubling 11 places from the previous year to be ranked 118 out of 165 countries. Given the parlous state of fundamental rights in the country and the rising influence of non-democratic forces in various spheres of governance, it was always only a matter of time before Pakistan fell to the lowest possible categorisation on the index.
The EIU also describes the backsliding of democratic ideals in countries where state institutions enjoy a far richer history of upholding basic rights, with the “world’s most developed democracies … struggling to manage political and social conflict at home”. The US, long perceived to be a beacon of democracy, has seen public disaffection with the political status quo over the last decade leading to rising support for populist demagogues like Donald Trump, with devastating consequences for marginalised segments of the population, including immigrants, and religious and racial minorities.
Divisive rhetoric by politicians in many countries of the Global North has fuelled xenophobia and discrimination, leading to policies and attitudes that encroach upon the rights of the underprivileged. This has led to the US being categorised as a “flawed democracy” since 2016, and with the continued salience of the likes of Trump in the American political landscape, there is little hope of it improving its ranking anytime soon.
Even in Western Europe, which performed the best in the rankings, the EIU found dangers ahead because of the rising support for far right, anti-immigrant parties, just going to show that even with basic requisites like democratic institutions and rule of law in place, these may not be enough to curb public disillusionment from the political system.
The EIU has also underscored the utter failure of the world’s democracies to prevent wars from breaking out, with hostilities in the Middle East, Europe and Africa causing huge loss of innocent lives. While data tells us that “today’s wars are concentrated in countries where democracy is absent or in trouble”, the absolute inability, and in some cases, outright unwillingness of the supposed upholders of fundamental rights and democracy, to call out ruthless aggressors for targeting innocent populations has been the dominant reality of 2023, best exemplified by the plight of Palestinians in Gaza.
With nearly half of the world’s population set to go to the polls in 2024, the jury is still out on whether these electoral exercises can usher in a new era for democracy that could in turn steer the world out of war and discord. As EIU highlights, “elections are a condition of democracy, but are far from being sufficient”. One must remember that when political systems become unresponsive to and unrepresentative of the people’s will, faith in democracy, and consequently the quality of democracy, is bound to decline.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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