This is what happens when democracy is no longer the preferred regime

In the last two decades, countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia have witnessed the deterioration of democracy and the strengthening of authoritarian regimes.

According to a new report, Vladimir Putin's Russia, whose tenure has also lasted for twenty years, is starring in the head - especially after the invasion of Ukraine

Tali Goldstein

29/04/2022

Friday, 29 April 2022, 22:31

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On May 7, 2000, Putin was officially appointed President of Russia.

In a statement issued shortly afterwards on the website of the Russian government, he stated: "Russia needs and owes sovereign power," but Sage, "I do not of course call for the establishment of a totalitarian regime."

He went on to say: "History proves that all dictatorships and all authoritarian regimes pass with time. Only democratic systems are not temporary. Despite its shortcomings, humanity has not invented a regime that transcends democracy."

If this statement sounds familiar, maybe it's because it's been said before, in 1947.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill then uttered one of his most famous sentences: "Democracy is the worst system of government that exists, apart from all the other regimes that have been tried."

The difference is that Churchill truly believed in democracy and being the only regime that allowed citizens freedom and basic human rights.

And Putin?

History has repeatedly shown how cynical he was.

On February 24, 2022, Putin, still President of Russia after 22 years in office, ordered his army to invade neighboring Ukraine.

The war, which displaced millions of innocent people and turned them into involuntary refugees and resulted in the deaths of an unknown number of civilians, not only does not conform to the spirit of the noble democratic regime Putin called for in Russia two decades earlier, but also threatens international liberal order.

According to a report entitled Nations in Transit by Freedom House, which estimates the deterioration of democracy in 29 countries, from Eastern Europe to Central Asia (Eurasia), 2021 was the year that most demonstrated the significance of democracy Aliba Deputin. "H, last year is the 18th year in a row that there has been a deterioration in democracy in the entire region in question.

Putin's war on Ukraine is the latest and worst manifestation of the bullying he uses against neighboring countries.

In 2006 he invaded Georgia and annexed the separatist provinces of Azabia and South Ossetia;

In 2014 he invaded Ukraine annexed the Crimea.

Now Putin is focusing on eastern Ukraine and looking west - to Moldova and beyond.

When free societies opposed his efforts to apply totalitarian principles, such as media censorship and social oppression, he did not hesitate to use military force.

When authoritarian leaders in the region encountered popular opposition to their rule, as in Belarus for example, Putin helped them in exchange for deepening their dependence on Moscow.

However, according to the report, this time, Russian aggression is more dangerous than ever. If Russia succeeds in enslaving Ukraine, a sovereign and democratic state, "it will be the first time an authoritarian regime has succeeded in overthrowing a freely elected national government in the region since the end of World War II." Worse, "even if the Russian attempt fails, it has already succeeded in undermining the entire region, and accelerating the anti-democratic upheaval that is taking place in Europe and Eurasia," the report said.

The Nations in Transit report ranks democracy on the basis of seven categories such as electoral system, media independence and corruption. According to the report, democracy has been declining for 18 consecutive years in the 29 countries examined.

Also, 2021 was the first year that hybrid regimes - which combine an authoritarian regime with elements of democracy, such as Hungary - were most common from Central Europe to Eurasian countries (countries whose territory is divided between Europe in the West and Asia in the East, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan , Turkey, Armenia and Cyprus).

The report emphasizes that today, more than ever in the post-Cold War era, citizens of Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia are witnessing the threat that an uncontrolled dictatorship poses to freedom and democracy. "In which the power of the state is concentrated in the hands of one person," it was written.

The decline of democracy is also strengthened in light of the fact that these same leaders are not content with suppressing democracy and liberalism in their countries, but are also trying to influence other countries, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Thus, it is not surprising that Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia and five Central Asian countries were ranked at the bottom of the rankings in the report - while their leaders continue to suppress resistance and strengthen themselves against enemies at home and abroad

. Hybrids in the area, compared to only four in 2004.

Chechnya, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia are still defined as "cohesive democracies" (those that will survive and not become authoritarian unless a powerful external shock occurs) - compared to eight in 2004.

However, the ranking of the six democracies also dropped this year due to corruption and anti-liberal tendencies.

2021 - Putin's year

Russia dropped in the ranking from 1.39 to 1.32.

According to the report, if in 2000, there was a hybrid regime in Russia, by 2022 it had already become a completely authoritarian regime, the report claims.

Appearance of a democratic regime.

Hungarian Prime Minister Urban (Photo: Reuters)

2021 was a year in which the Kremlin did not hide its disregard for democracy and human rights, the report said. Expressing their views was cruel and bloody, with hundreds injured by security forces and thousands arrested during nonviolent demonstrations.The authorities declared Navalny's political movement a "radical and illegal" group and laws were expanded to restrict or close civilian media and activism bodies altogether.

This violent and anti-democratic repression within Russia intensified when Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

According to the report, in the first three weeks after the start of the war, some 15,000 Russians were arrested for protesting against it. "In Ukraine as a 'war' or 'invasion'.

The Progressive Party under his leadership conquered the country in early April elections.

Serbian Vucic (Photo: Reuters)

However, not only Russia has degenerated into the abysses of authority.

The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has also tightened his grip on power and erased any trace of freedom of expression and political opposition.

With the help of the Russians, he brutally suppressed a civil protest against the dubious presidential election held in the country in 2020 - began to purge the media sector and silence critics.

The hijacking in May 2021 of a Rainier plane to stop activist Raman Parsevich demonstrated that even in exile it is dangerous to continue resisting him.

Today, Lukashenko is returning the favor to Putin by allowing and supporting an invasion of Ukraine.

The rise of the hybrid regime

These alarming trends, which have spread to different levels in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, are now shaping a less democratic and violent phase in the region's history.

According to the report, liberal democracy is no longer the preferred regime in the region. More and more countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia are moving in the directions of total autocracy or a hybrid regime that combines the democratic structure subject to anti-democratic legislation and conduct

. The region is a hybrid regime, and four democracies have fallen into this gray area since 2004: Hungary, Montenegro, northern Macedonia and Serbia

, while three authoritarian regimes have moved towards a democratic regime: Moldova, Kosovo and Armenia - though not yet governed by democratic principles.

A powerful counter-reaction is needed

Hybrid regimes are now ruled by leaders who have been "elected" by the people and have abandoned any commitment to the principles of liberal democracy on their way to gaining a monopoly on power.

The perfect example is Victor Urban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, who worked hard to promote similar governments to his own in Central and Eastern Europe.

He allowed competitive elections to be held on April 3 as a semblance of a democratic regime, but he and the Fidez party under his leadership controlled the entire process.

Voting was not free or fair.

Urban has survived the election and is expected to continue to strengthen the authoritarian regime.

Another example is in Serbia with President Alexander Vucic, whose leading Progressive Party conquered the country in early April elections.

Even the countries with a relatively strong democratic regime in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia do not provide comfort in the report. Eight out of ten countries still ranked as democracies fell in the 2021 ranking. Moreover, for the first time in the 21st century, no country in the region received a score above 6 (with the highest score being 7), reserved for countries governed by established liberal democracy.

"The basic principles of democracy must be preserved, such as civil rights, a free market, a free press, the supremacy of the individual over the interests of the state, a state that serves the interests of the common people and protects their rights and interests," Putin once said in a speech.

But according to Mike Smeltzer of Freedom House, co-author of the report, there is no doubt that the link between democracy and Russia has become increasingly absurd. , There is a real chance that the war will accelerate the anti-democratic revolution we have documented.

"Economic challenges and the influx of refugees will challenge the capabilities of governments and companies that in the last two years have also had to deal with an epidemic."

While the war in Ukraine has mobilized democracies in the West as no other crisis in the last century has done, but according to the report, only a powerful counter-reaction will be able to get the countries of the region back on a positive path and to change the deteriorating democracy in the region.

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