US democracy at risk, a new Report now reveals

Crumbling US democracy. Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

NAIROBI, Kenya - International IDEA- a think tank has revealed that the world's democracies are at risk. Its new report released on Wednesday revealed countries are experiencing an erosion of democracy.

This has been intensified by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

International IDEA Secretary-General Kevin Casas-Zamora told AFP that "Today we are witnessing severe headwinds for democracy and this has been intensified by the political fallout from the economic crisis that started with the pandemic and the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine.”

The Secretary-General further added"It might be that the credibility of elections is challenged. It might be that the rule of law is under assault. It might be that civic space is being constrained."The number of democracies with the most severe democratic erosion — a group dubbed "backsliding" countries which have included the United States since last year — increased from six to seven in 2022 with the addition of El Salvador to the list.

The others are Brazil, Hungary, India, Mauritius, and Poland. Casas-Zamora singled out the US as particularly worrying."I'm very concerned by what we're seeing in the United States."

The report states that the US is facing political polarisation, institutional dysfunction, and threats to civil liberties.

"It's quite clear by now that the fever didn't break with the election of a new administration," he said, pointing to "the runaway levels of polarization (and) the attempts to undermine the credibility of electoral results without any evidence of fraud".Report reveals.

International IDEA report conducted the research in 173 countries where 104 were democracies and 52 of those were in decline.

Meanwhile, the number of countries moving toward authoritarianism, 27, was more than double the number moving toward democracy, at 13.

Almost half of all authoritarian regimes became even more repressive in 2022, with Afghanistan, Belarus, Cambodia, Comoros and Nicaragua singled out as experiencing a "broad decline".

In Asia, where only 54 percent of people live in a democracy, authoritarianism is solidifying, the report said, while Africa, despite a myriad of challenges, remains "resilient" in the face of instability.

In Europe, almost half of all democracies, or 17 countries, suffered democratic erosion in the last five years.

"Democracies are struggling to effectively bring balance to environments marked by instability and anxiety, and populists continue to gain ground around the world as democratic innovation and growth stagnate or decline", the report said.

GAROWE ONLINE