United States 'democracy in retreat' for the first time, says report

The United States first joined the list of

mainly due to degradation during the second half of the Trump presidency, according to a landmark report on democracy in the world released on Monday, November 22. .

Read also: Taking the Capitol: the day the American democracy fractured

Globally, more than a quarter of the world's population now lives in a shrinking democracy, and nearly 70% adding authoritarian or “hybrid” regimes, with a trend of democratic degradation that has continued unabated since 2016, according to the annual report of the intergovernmental organization International IDEA based in Stockholm. Updated annually, its list of declining democracies already included India, Brazil, the Philippines as well as two EU countries - Poland and Hungary. A third European nation, Slovenia, was also added this year.

Even if the United States remains

, the American decline is linked to the decline in the country's indicators in terms of

, explains Alexander Hudson, one of the co-authors of the study. International IDEA cites in particular the

of the electoral challenges to the presidential election of November 2020 by Donald Trump and

.

'in decline'

Alexander Hudson.

The visible deterioration of democracy in the United States, as evidenced by the growing tendency to challenge credible election results, efforts to suppress turnout and runaway polarization ... democracy on a global scale.

"

Kevin Casas-Zamora, Secretary General of International IDEA,

“The visible deterioration of democracy in the United States, as evidenced by the growing tendency to challenge credible election results, efforts to suppress turnout and runaway polarization ... democracy on a global scale

,

says International IDEA Secretary General Kevin Casas-Zamora.

With seven nations now, the number of countries where democracy is seen as declining has doubled in nearly a decade.

Covering half a century of democratic indicators and following most countries in the world (around 160), International IDEA classifies them into three categories: democracy (including “democracy in decline”), “hybrid” regimes and authoritarian regimes.

An unprecedented situation

Two countries that were on the list last year (Ukraine and North Macedonia) have dropped out because the situation has improved. Two others, Mali and Serbia, were excluded because the two nations are no longer considered democracies. For the fifth consecutive year in 2020, the number of countries moving in the direction of authoritarianism has exceeded the number of countries in the process of democratization. An unprecedented situation since the organization's data began in the 1970s and which should continue in 2021. Burma will indeed be downgraded from the rank of democracy to that of an authoritarian regime. And Afghanistan and Mali switch from hybrid regimes to authoritarian regimes. Zambia, now classified as a democracy, is the only country to have positively changed category this year.

Read also United States: Republicans seek to limit the exercise of the right to vote

For 2021, the provisional score of International IDEA identifies 98 democracies - a number at the lowest for several years - 20 "hybrid" regimes including Russia, Morocco or Turkey and 47 authoritarian regimes, including China, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Iran.

By adding the retreating democracies and the hybrid and authoritarian regimes,

,

emphasizes Kevin Casas-Zamora.

International IDEA has also confirmed its findings from last year, according to which more than six in ten countries have taken problematic measures for human rights or respect for democratic rules in the face of Covid-19, because they were

.

More than nine authoritarian regimes out of ten are concerned, but also more than 40% of democracies.

said Mr. Casas-Zamora.