Freedom in the World 2015

Discarding Democracy: Return to the Iron Fist FREEDOM IN THE WORLD 2015 Highlights from Freedom House’s annual report on political rights and civil liberties This report was made possible by the generous support of the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Lilly Endowment, the Schloss Family Foundation, Kim G. Davis, and the Earhart Foundation. Freedom House also gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the 21st Century ILGWU Heritage Fund, The Reed Foundation, Leonard Sussman and the Sussman Freedom Fund, Diana Villiers Negroponte, and other private contributors. Discarding Democracy: 1 Regional Trends 9 Conclusion: 19 A Return to the Iron Fist The system of choice Middle East and North Africa 9 A more explicit rejection of 2 Worst of the worst 20 democratic standards Eurasia 10 Tolerating risk 20 Freedom in the World methodology 2 Asia-Pacific 11 The effects and causes 3 Europe 13 of terrorism Tables: Sub-Saharan Africa 16 Independent Countries 21 A return to cruder 5 Americas 17 authoritarian methods Related and Disputed Territories 27 Notable developments in 2014 6 Global findings 7 The following people were instrumental in the writing of this essay: Elen Aghekyan, Matthew Coogan, Jennifer Dunham, Bret Nelson, Sarah Repucci, Tyler Roylance, and Vanessa Tucker. Cover photo: Egyptian riot2 policemen standing guard outside the Police Academy in Cairo, February 2014. AFP/Getty Images. FREEDOM IN THE WORLD 2015 Discarding Democracy: A Return to the Iron Fist by Arch Puddington, Vice President for Research In a year marked by an explosion of terrorist violence, autocrats’ use of more brutal tactics, and Russia’s invasion and annexation of a neighboring country’s territory, the state of freedom in 2014 worsened significantly in nearly every part of the world. For the ninth consecutive year, Freedom in the World, The lack of democratic gains around the world was Freedom House’s annual report on the condition of conspicuous. The one notable exception was Tunisia, global political rights and civil liberties, showed an which became the first Arab country to achieve the overall decline. Indeed, acceptance of democracy as status of Free since Lebanon was gripped by civil war the world’s dominant form of government—and of an 40 years ago. international system built on democratic ideals—is under greater threat than at any point in the last By contrast, a troubling number of large, economically 25 years. powerful, or regionally influential countries moved backward: Russia, Venezuela, Egypt, Turkey, Thailand, Even after such a long period of mounting pressure on Nigeria, Kenya, and Azerbaijan. Hungary, a European democracy, developments in 2014 were exceptionally Union member state, also saw a sharp slide in its grim. The report’s findings show that nearly twice as democratic standards as part of a process that began many countries suffered declines as registered gains, in 2010. 61 to 33, with the number of gains hitting its lowest point since the nine-year erosion began. There were also net declines across five of the seven categories of democratic indicators assessed by the This pattern held true across geographical regions, report. Continuing a recent trend, the worst reversals with more declines than gains in the Middle East and affected freedom of expression, civil society, and the North Africa, Eurasia, sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, and rule of law. In a new and disquieting development, the Americas, and an even split in Asia-Pacific. Syria, a number of countries lost ground due to state a dictatorship mired in civil war and ethnic division surveillance, restrictions on internet communications, and facing uncontrolled terrorism, received the lowest and curbs on personal autonomy—including the Freedom in the World country score in over a decade. freedom to make decisions about education and employment and the ability to travel freely. www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2015 1 FREEDOM Discarding Democracy: Return to the Iron Fist IN THE WORLD 2015 A more explicit rejection of democratic standards elements of due process. Under Sisi, a once-vibrant Just as disturbing as the statistical decline was the media sector has been bent into submission, human open disdain for democratic standards that colored rights organizations suppressed to the point that they the words and actions of autocratic governments can no longer operate, foreign scholars barred, and during the year. Until recently, most authoritarian domestic critics (both secular and Islamist) arrested regimes claimed to respect international agreements or forced into exile. As the year drew to a close, a court and paid lip service to the norms of competitive dismissed charges against former president Hosni elections and human rights. They now increasingly Mubarak for the murder of demonstrators in 2011, a flout democratic values, argue for the superiority of depressing symbol of the country’s undisguised return what amounts to one-party rule, and seek to throw off to autocratic rule. the constraints of fundamental diplomatic principles. In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including the outright consolidated power during the year and waged an seizure and formal annexation of Crimea, is the increasingly aggressive campaign against democratic prime example of this phenomenon. The Russian pluralism. He openly demanded that media owners intervention was in direct violation of an international censor coverage or fire critical journalists, told the agreement that had guaranteed Ukraine’s territorial Constitutional Court he does not respect its rulings, integrity. President Vladimir Putin made his contempt threatened reporters (and rebuked women journalists), for the values of liberal democracy unmistakably and ordered radical, even bizarre changes to the clear. He and his aides equated raw propaganda with school curriculum. Having risen from the premiership legitimate journalism, treated human rights activists to the presidency in August, he formed a “shadow as enemies of the state, and denounced the LGBT cabinet” that allows him to run the country from the (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community as presidential palace, circumventing constitutional rules moral degenerates. and the ministries of his own party’s government. In Egypt, the rise of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi In China, President Xi Jinping continued to centralize has been accompanied by a relentless campaign authority and maintain hands-on involvement in policy to roll back the gains of the Arab Spring. In an areas ranging from domestic security to internet unprecedented trampling of the rule of law, Egyptian management to ethnic relations, emerging as the courts sentenced 1,300 political detainees to death in most powerful Chinese Communist Party leader a series of drumhead trials that lacked the most basic since Deng Xiaoping. He continued to bolster China’s Freedom in the World Methodology Freedom in the World 2015 The methodology, which is including insurgents and other evaluates the state of freedom in derived from the Universal armed groups. 195 countries and 15 territories Declaration of Human Rights, during 2014. Each country is applied to all countries and For complete information on and territory is assigned two territories, irrespective of the methodology, visit https:// numerical ratings—from 1 to geographic location, ethnic or freedomhouse.org/report/ 7—for political rights and civil religious composition, or level of freedom-world/freedom- liberties, with 1 representing economic development. world-2015/methodology. the most free and 7 the least free. The two ratings are based Freedom in the World assesses on scores assigned to 25 more the real-world rights and detailed indicators. The average freedoms enjoyed by individuals, of a country or territory’s political rather than governments or rights and civil liberties ratings government performance per determines whether it is Free, se. Political rights and civil Partly Free, or Not Free. liberties can be affected by both state and nonstate actors, 2 Freedom House AGGREGATE SCORES OF SELECTED COUNTRIES OF INTEREST IN 2014 Hungary 82 Tunisia 79 Mexico 64 Ukraine 62 Turkey 54 Nigeria 43 Thailand 32 Egypt 26 Iraq 24 Russia 23 United Arab Emirates 21 Azerbaĳan 20 Vietnam 20 Ethiopia 18 China 17 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 FREE PARTLY FREE NOT FREE sweeping maritime territorial claims with armed force The effects and causes of terrorism and personnel, and while his aggressive anticorruption In a variety of ways, lack of democratic governance campaign reached the highest echelons of the creates an enabling environment for terrorism, and party, culminating in the arrest of former security the problem rapidly metastasized as a threat to human czar Zhou Yongkang, it remained selective and life and human freedom during 2014. In a wide swath ignored the principles of due process. Moreover, the of the globe stretching from West Africa through campaign has been compromised by an intensified the Middle East to South Asia, radical jihadist forces crackdown on grassroots anticorruption activists and plagued local governments and populations. Their other elements of civil society, including a series of impact on countries like Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, and politically motivated convictions. The government also Nigeria was devastating, as they massacred security intensified its persecution of the Uighur community, forces and civilians alike, took foreigners hostage, imposing layers of restriction on Uighurs’

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