A report on the state of democracies worldwide reveals that China is becoming an increasingly repressive regime in a region of the planet where totalitarianism is consolidating.
The latest report on the Global State of Democracies, for the year 2021, from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), which will be presented at a public event this Wednesday, shows that only 54% of people in Asia and the Pacific they live in a democracy and almost 85% of those people live in a fragile or declining democracy.
The document from this Stockholm-based institute — which analyzes the democratic performance of 173 countries since 1975 and seeks to diagnose the state of democracies around the world — also says that totalitarian regimes, including the Chinese, are becoming increasingly repressive.
“Authoritarian regimes are becoming more and more repressive. They are increasingly aggressive and digging deeper into their clutches.” IDEA Secretary General Kevin Casas-Zamora explained to Lusa.
China is a good illustration of this tendency of authoritarian regimes to consolidate and deepen totalitarian and dictatorial values, revealing a complete lack of government representativeness or citizen participation in political decisions.
In China, all 11 parameters related to government representativeness, citizen participation, or executive oversight show negative values, well below even other totalitarian regimes.
Freedom of expression in China almost zero
With intermediate values, parameters such as access to justice or social rights and equality, as well as gender equality or the absence of corruption, appear, yet at levels below the recommended global averages.
The only parameter where China compares favorably with the other 173 countries is its social security system, where it performs above the global average.
Freedom of expression – now being tested with demonstrations against the Beijing regime’s strategy to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic – appears to be close to zero, as are freedom of religion or freedom of expression in a country. which has intensified its policy of control over its citizens.
“We will see a lot of political instability. There will be a lot of social movements responding to social discontent and this could provoke a more serious political response from authoritarian regimes,” warned Casas-Zamora, in statements to Lusa made even before the protests, and the Beijing regime’s repressive response now taking place in China.
Half of the world’s democratic regimes are in decline
One in two democratic regimes around the world is in decline, weakened by problems of legitimacy, restrictions on essential freedoms or a lack of transparency, the report found.
Document indicates that the number of democratic countries in regression is the highest in the last decade.
“The number of countries at the global level moving towards authoritarianism is twice as many as the number moving towards democracy,” the report adds, showing that even established democracies, such as the Northern American, today grapples with issues that undermine its credibility with voters.
Over the past five years, the progress of democracies at the global level has stagnated in the indexes of these IDEA reports, even verifying some regression and, in several parameters, they are no better than in 1990.
The IDEA report measures the democratic performance of 173 countries since 1975 and seeks to diagnose the state of democracies around the world.
“We are facing a very serious situation. Even countries with systematically good returns in the indices are reflecting declines, proving that there is a global problem with democracies,” That’s what IDEA Secretary General Kevin Casas-Zamora told Lusa.
The decline of global democracy is reflected in several parameters, including the credibility of election results, restrictions on freedom of expression and citizenship, and the disillusionment of young people with political activity.
When IDEA researchers try to find reasons for the decline of democratic regimes, they find explanations in the disengagement of elected representatives from voters’ real problems, the rise in corruption, and the rise of demagogic and populist parties that polarize and radicalize political activity.
At the same time, this year’s report shows that authoritarian regimes are proliferating and deepening their repressive activities, with 2021 being the worst year on record.
“More than two-thirds of the world’s population now live in decline democracies or under authoritarian and hybrid regimes,” the report concludes, still showing some signs of optimism about the global political scenario.
“People are joining forces in innovative ways to renegotiate the terms of social contracts, putting pressure on their governments to meet the demands of the 21st century, from establishing childcare structures in Asia to reproductive freedoms in America. Latin America,” concludes the IDEA study.
Talking to Lusa, the secretary general of this Stockholm-based institution acknowledged that there are many interesting cases of civic activity, such as environmental movements, women’s rights demonstrations in Iran or political protests in Thailand, revealing that “citizens are showing willingness to push the boundaries of what is politically possible is”.
“The coming years will be challenging,” assures Casas-Zamora, recalling that “contrary to what democratic pessimists might suggest, authoritarian regimes and alternative systems of governance have outperformed their democratic counterparts.”
Still, the report on the health of the world’s democracies contains worrying indicators for those who believe in this form of political regime, such as the fact that by the end of 2021, half of the 173 countries evaluated will show a decline in at least one of the democratic characteristics.
In Europe, for example, nearly half of all democracies, in a total of 17 countries, have experienced erosion over the past five years, and Portugal was no exception, having recorded a decline in 2020 in three of the parameters that measure the quality of democracies.
Despite everything, Portugal remains a healthy democracy, sharing with other European countries a deficit in corruption and lack of greater openness to citizen participation in government decisions.
On the Asian, African and South American continents, systemic and historical problems of severe democratic deficits persist, with countries such as Afghanistan, Belarus, the Comoros or Nicaragua repeating the achievements of declining democratic parameters.
“Democracy does not appear to be evolving in a way that reflects rapidly changing needs and priorities. The improvements are small, even in democracies that perform at a medium or high level,” the report concludes.
The IDEA document recommends a range of policies to renew and reactivate democratic regimes, namely through the adoption of fairer and more sustainable social contracts, through reforms of political institutions and through strengthening defenses against authoritarianism.
Source: DN
