Freedom in the World 1979 Complete Book

Freedom in the World Political Rights and Civil Liberties 1979 RAYMOND D. GASTIL With papers by Bohdan R. Bociurkiw Herbert J. Ellison Lewis S. Feuer Teresa Rakowska-Harmstone Published by Freedom House in cooperation with G. K. Hall & Co. G.K.HALL &CO. 70 LINCOLN STREET, BOSTON, MASS. FREEDOM HOUSE 20 WEST 40 STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y. International Standard Book Number: 0-932088-01-5 Freedom House, 20 West 40th Street, New York, N.Y. 10018 International Standard Book Number: 0-8161-8387-2 G. K. Hall & Co., 70 Lincoln Street, Boston, Mass. 02111 Copyright © 1979 by Freedom House, Inc. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Gastil, Raymond D Freedom in the world. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Civil rights. I. Bociurkiw, Bohdan R., joint author. II. Title. JC571.G336 1980 323.4 79-87596 Contents PREFACE ix PART I: THE SURVEY IN 1978 The Comparative Survey of Freedom: Nature and Purposes 3 Survey Ratings and Tables for 1978 15 PART II: FREEDOM, EQUALITY, AND CULTURE Freedom and Equality 63 National Cultures and Universal Democracy 75 PART III: SUPPORTING LIBERALIZATION IN THE SOVIET UNION Supporting Liberalization in the Soviet Union 85 The Struggle for National Self-Assertion and Liberalization in the Soviet Union 100 Teresa Rakowska-Harmstone Comments and Discussion 111 Religious Dissent in the Soviet Union: Status, Interrelationships, and Future Potential 115 Bohdan R. Bociurkiw Comments and Discussion 133 Reform and Repression in the USSR: The Western Influence, Herbert J. Ellison 137 Comments and Discussion 152 v vi CONTENTS American Activists and Soviet Power 161 Lewis S. Feuer Comments and Discussion: Strategy and Tactics for Liberalizing the USSR 173 Summary and Conclusions 194 PART IV: COUNTRY SUMMARIES Introduction 201 Summaries 205 INDEX 311 Map and Tables The Map of Freedom 26-27 Tables 1. Independent Nations: Comparative Measures of Freedom 16 2. Related Territories: Comparative Measures of Freedom 20 3. Ranking of Nations by Political Rights 22 4. Ranking of Nations by Civil Liberties 23 5. National Elections and Referenda 32 6. Estimated Levels of Political Terror 38 7. Political-Economic Systems 40 8. Major Peoples Without a Nation-State 46 9. Major Peoples Separated from Existing Nation-States 50 vii Preface ot only ratings of public figures rise and fall in the polls. Vital N human affairs are treated as transiently. Freedom and human rights are a current example. The year 1977, as this yearbook noted in its previous edition, was regarded as the Year of Human Rights. The subject of this second yearbook, covering 1978, was, if anyone bothered to name it, the Year of Disaffection. This despite indicators showing there were significant gains for freedom around the world. Yet, human rights, particularly as observed from the United States, were seen—excuse the inapt analogy—as a two-edged sword. We, it is said, persuaded the Shah to rush modernization and expand human rights; and what hap- pened? We "lost" Iran. That could give human freedom a bad name! Indeed, those who long questioned America's role in Iran must view with concern the new authoritarianism. For the estimate of the Com- parative Survey of Freedom—the centerpiece of this, as of the first Freedom in the World—is that the freedoms of the citizens of Iran, on an objective scale, are only slightly improved. The Carter administration nevertheless declares human rights to be the "genuine historic inevitability of our times." Those who strive to raise the universal level of political rights and civil liberties devoutly hope so. Whether they use governmental or nongovernmental efforts to enlarge human freedoms, citizens thus engaged will recognize as one of their major obstacles the fickleness of the public's agenda-setters (in and out of government and the independent communications media). This volume argues for turning away from "supporting freedom by exception"—only when it suits national military or economic policy— to "adopt a personal and public policy of supporting freedom with consistency." That is not to suggest an automatic priority of freedom issues over any other. It does call for recognition that in today's world it is often in our longer-term interest that our military and economic policies should be early on the side of the earnest freedom advo- cates abroad. ix X PREFACE The prescient essay, "The Case of Iran," by Richard W. Cottam in last year's Freedom in the World, made that point months before it became clear that the Shah's regime could not survive. Cottam detailed the intricate policy choices facing the United States: the unhappy case history of millenial-old traditions cum modern authoritarianism, both confronted by the "historic inevitability" of the human rights issue. It is now said that in Iran our intelligence services failed to inform the president, and the news media misinformed the public. Yet, independent American scholars who knew the area were aware of the likely denoue- ment—as Dr. Cottam in last year's yearbook demonstrated with precision before the revolution. This year's edition again conveys in the Survey (Part I) and the Country Summaries (Part IV) the information and judgments that may be useful to communicators, scholars, officials, and human rights activists in formulating present and future attitudes and actions. We are pleased to observe after eight years that the Comparative Survey of Freedom has become a staple resource—even during times when human rights are not an "in" subject. The favorable reception of our first yearbook is additionally gratify- ing. Perhaps the most important contribution made by the Survey and Freedom in the World is their year-round focusing on political rights and civil liberties as a fundamental, worldwide aspect of human society, and, indeed, international affairs. We expect, in years to come, that this yearbook will be increasingly useful, not only for the annual judgments and correlations, but for the special attention given each year to particular aspects of freedom. The 1978 edition examined human rights, East and West, and the aforementioned case of Iran. It also discussed the definitions and distinctions of freedom and democracy and the relation of alternate political-economic systems to freedom, and included analyses of the "democratic role" and democracy as a polyarchy, and an essay on self-determination, subnationalities, and freedom. The special sections in this 1979 edition are Freedom, Equality, and Culture (Part II) and Supporting Liberalization in the Soviet Union (Part III). Andrei Amalrik, the Soviet writer now living abroad, sees "the only real solution" to many domestic and foreign problems gen- erated by the government of the Soviet Union as the future "liberalization of the Soviet system." The distinguished Soviet philosopher, now exiled, Alexander Zinoviev, believes the USSR's "liberal" period is be- hind it—in the "Khrushchev era and the first years of the Brezhnev government." A similarly broad spectrum of views appeared at the Freedom House conference on Soviet liberalization reported and discussed in this PREFACE xi volume. As the editor properly notes, "consensus is a valuable but by no means necessary result" of a conference. "Significant disagree- ment" was apparent, though most of the scholars agreed that the Soviet Union persistently pursues the "ideological goal of bringing the world under both Soviet and communist domination." Many dif- ferent modes of response are considered, as is the role and impact of Soviet dissenters. Private individuals and organizations, it was agreed, could make a contribution to Soviet liberalization—provided the American government and the American public understand and share similar goals. That suggests an assignment for the journalist, an objective for the educator, and a responsibility for the government official. All need to illuminate far more realistically the complex inter- actions between the United States and the Soviet Union. We hope this volume may contribute to a wiser appraisal of those realities. * * * Once again, we are grateful for the assistance provided by the Ad- visory Panel for the Comparative Survey, consisting of Robert J. Alexander, Professor of Economics, Rutgers University; Richard W. Cottam, Professor of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh; Her- bert J. Ellison, Professor of History, University of Washington; Sey- mour Martin Lipset, Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution; Lucian Pye, Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology; Leslie Rubin, lawyer, professor, and African specialist; Gio- vanni Sartori, Professor of Political Science, Stanford University; Robert Scalapino and Paul Seabury, Professors of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley. We acknowledge the extensive contributions to Freedom in the World, 1979 and to our Freedom House conference, "Supporting Liberalization in the Soviet Union," made by the participants: Drs. Alexander, Cottam, Ellison, Lipset, and Rubin among the advisors mentioned above; Bohdan R. Bociurkiw, Professor of Political Science, Carleton University, Ottawa; John B. Dunlop, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, Stanford; Lewis S. Feuer, Professor of Sociology, University of Virginia; Teresa Rakowska-Harmstone, Pro- fessor of Political Science, Carleton University; William R. Kintner, President, Foreign Policy Research Institute, Philadelphia; C. Grant Pendill, Jr.; Howland H. Sargeant, of the Freedom House Executive Committee; and Leonard

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