We're at the start of a new year. The holiday season is behind us, 2023 has ended and it's time to reflect on the current state of events. The typical around this time of the year. At least the article on which this post is based did so.
In a recent publication (Dutch only) by the Dutch new channel NOS they reflected on the current state of democracy worldwide. While our own country face some big changes politically in 2023 the coming year might show something similar in many parts of the world. In 2024 there will be elections in many countries. The amount of people going to their local voting station in 2024 accounts for more than half the world population.
Good news you might say. Isn't voting a fundamental concept for a well functioning democracy? Fair elections that are respected by the current leaders perhaps. But this is too often not really the case. Autocracies, where a single person is effectively in charge, are not uncommon. In fact they are gaining momentum worldwide.
The recent 2023 democracy report by V-Dem gives us some interesting insights in the past and future development of worldwide democracy. And it doesn't look too good.
A quick glance over the fact sheet of this reports shows some depressing numbers if you believe in giving power to the people. According to V-dem, the level of democracy enjoyed by the average global citizen in 2022 is down to what it was in 1986. Coincidentally the year I was born. No improvement since I came to this world. In the Asia-Pacific region the situation is even worse and comparable to 1978. While democracy is effectively in decline, the autocrats in this world are taking over it seems. Below you can see the growth and decline of the latter over the past 20 years:
For those following the general world events this might not really come as a big surprise. Even some important player on the world political stage are showing some problems in the inner workings of their democratic system.
To quantify things it's always good to have some indicators. The top twenty indicators of decline between 2012 and 2022n are shown below. The number axis in this plot shows the number of countries for which the indicator is worsening.
The most important indicator shown above is that of censorship efforts by the government. A more obvious indicator I would say. One indicator quite high up that I never really thought too much about is the engaged society. One needs to have a sharp society to keep the politicians on edge! Where did I hear that before? :D
When having a look at individual countries worldwide the change in liberal democracy index some major countries show decline. This includes the US:
Although from recent events and reports, this is no news. Yet seeing the US in decline it in a report like this is a bit unsettling to me. Especially with the coming presidential elections.
While reading the NOS article and skimming through the report by V-Dem, I was reminded of a little book I read a while ago. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder to be precise. This thin but very important book gives a brief summary of things to look out for when it comes to democracy. What systems and mechanisms are typically harmed and in what way to break down a healthy and functioning democracy. That what the US once had for example.
I think it's time for me to have my vision checked and reread Snyder's book. I can highly recommend you do the same!
I do not own the infographics in this post. They are taken from the democracy report 2023 by V-dem. A link to the report is underneath the individual images. For a full in depth analysis of democracy worldwide the V-dem report is an excellent piece to read.
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