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Armenia has retreated according to The Economist’s 2020 Democracy Index
20.02.2021 | 20:41
Analytical Center of The Economist recently published the Global Democracy Index 2020, which also referred to the level of democracy development in Armenia, reports VOA. According to The Economist magazine’s Global Democracy Index 2020 report, among the 165 countries, Armenia ranked 89th, down from the previous report.
Armenia was ranked 86th in the 2019 Global Democracy Index. With a total score of 5.35, the country continues to be described as a “hybrid regime”. The report notes that Armenia’s performance declined in 2020, while the country had made significant progress in 2018-19. According to the report, as a result of the armed conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian government imposed martial law, which significantly restricted the freedoms of citizens, including freedom of speech. Martial law continues even after the end of hostilities when a ceasefire was established. According to the report, martial law is used to suppress anti-government protests and detain opposition leaders.
The Democracy Index, which examines data from 165 countries and 2 territories, is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, government activities, political participation և political culture. Based on about 60 indicators of these categories, the classification of each country is formed, as well as the belonging to one of the four types of regime: complete democracy, imperfect democracy, hybrid regime, or authoritarian regime.
According to The Economist, as of 2020, there are no “complete democracies” in the Eastern Europe region, which also includes post-Soviet countries. Estonia and the Czech Republic are in second place in the region, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are the last two on the list.
Only Albania has changed the type of its regime, moving from a “hybrid regime” to an “imperfect democracy” category.
The latter includes 13 countries. Eight countries are classified as “hybrid regimes”, including Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, as well as post-Soviet Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan. The rest of the regional countries – Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan – are “authoritarian regimes”. In the report, Georgia ranks 91st (last year – 89th), Azerbaijan – 146th (last year – 147th), Turkey – 104th (last year – 110th), Iran – 152nd (last year – 151st), Russia – 124th (last year – 135th). Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Austria, and the Netherlands are in the top ten countries with the highest rates. The United States remained in 25th place with 7.92 points compared to last year.
