Global initiatives
The Economist Intelligence Unit's index of democracy
Full democracies, flawed democracies and hybrid regimes
Authors:
L. Kekic
Publisher:
Economist Intelligence Unit , 2008
This document describes the Economist Intelligent Unit’s index of democracy. This index is based on view that measures of democracy that reflect the state of political freedoms and civil liberties are not thick enough. The index encompasses five categories:
- electoral process and pluralism
- civil liberties
- the functioning of government
- political participation
- political culture
The index provides a snapshot of the current state of democracy worldwide for 165 independent states and two territories. This covers almost the entire population of the world and the vast majority of the world’s 192 independent states (27 micro-states are excluded).
The index also shows that although almost half of the world’s countries can be considered to be democracies, the number of “full democracies” is relatively low (only 30). Almost twice as many (50) are rated as “flawed democracies”.
Of the remaining 85 states, 51 are authoritarian and 36 are considered to be “hybrid regimes”. As could be expected, the developed OECD countries (with the notable exception of Italy) dominate among full democracies, although there are two Latin American, two central European and one African country, which means that the level of development is not a binding constraint. Only two Asian countries, and South Korea, make the grade.
The paper argues that while the global record in democratisation since the start of the "third wave" has been impressive however, in recent years the spread of democracy appears to have come to a halt.
Disappointments abound across many of the world’s regions. The slowing of democratisation and rising disenchantment with the results of some political liberalisations appear to have a variety of causes. Key among them is the delegitimation of much of the democracy-promotion agenda, which has become associated with an internationally very unpopular US president and military intervention. A combination of double standards in foreign policy (autocrats can be good friends as well as foes) and growing infringements of civil liberties has reduced the effectiveness of Western governments' calls for democratisation.
