Non-partisan democracy advocacy organization Freedom House has released its annual report on the state of freedom across the world. Entitled “A Leaderless Struggle for Democracy”, this year’s edition of the report is downbeat, stating that “democracy and pluralism are under assault” with “dictators toiling to stamp out the last vestiges of domestic dissent and spread their harmful influence to new corners of the world”. It also calls attention to the fact that many freely elected leaders “are dramatically narrowing their concerns to a blinkered interpretation of the national interest”. As a result, Freedom House found that 2019 was the 14th consecutive year of decline in global freedom with 64 countries experiencing a fall in their political rights and freedoms while just 37 saw an improvement.
While declines in places like China and Russia are not all that surprising, Freedom House found that 25 out of 41 “established democracies” have also experienced net losses in democracy since 2006. While the United States enjoyed similar freedom levels to Switzerland and the United Kingdom ten years ago, today it’s ranked behind Greece and Slovakia while it’s marginally ahead of Argentina and Croatia. President Trump is primarily to blame for that slide and his administration has failed to exhibit consistent commitment to a foreign policy based on the principles of democracy and human rights.
The report notes that Trump has denounced authoritarian abuses by U.S. adversaries such as Venezuela and Iran but he has also excused violations from traditional security partners such as Egypt and Turkey. He has also failed to take action or denounce tyrannical leaders who he has attempted to woo diplomatically such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. In addition, Trump vetoed bipartisan Congressional efforts to curb arms sales and military assistance to Saudi Arabia who are conducting an extensive bombing campaign in Yemen.
Finland, Norway and Sweden were named as the countries with the highest levels of freedom worldwide in 2019 while the Netherlands, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand were also among the best-ranked countries. 49 nations fall under the “not free” category in the report with Syria rock bottom. Turkmenistan, Eritrea, North Korea, South Korea and Somalia are also among the worst-ranked countries.
*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)
