Authoritarianism Persists Around the World, But Not Because of an American “Crisis of Confidence”
Jesse Walker|Jan. 24, 2014 11:04 am
Freedom House’s annual report came out this week, and it’s pretty glum. Here’s how the organization’s announcement of its findings begins:
The state of freedom declined for the eighth consecutive year in 2013, according to Freedom in the World 2014, Freedom House’s annual country-by-country report on global political rights and civil liberties.
Particularly notable were developments in Egypt, which endured across-the-board reversals in its democratic institutions following a military coup. There were also serious setbacks to democratic rights in other large, politically influential countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Venezuela, and Indonesia.
The report itself notes that “the overall level of regression was not severe,” with 40 countries getting freer and 54 getting more authoritarian. Freedom House’s list of which countries are “free,” “partly free,” or “not free” hasn’t changed much: The number of countries in the “free” category declined by two, and the numbers in the other categories went up by one apiece. The number of electoral democracies actually increased by four. So while there’s plenty of bad news here, the situation isn’t as dire as that lede suggests.
https://reason.com/blog/2014/01/24/authoritarianism-persists-around-the-wor
