{"id":60678,"date":"2024-02-16T05:01:05","date_gmt":"2024-02-16T05:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/tumultuous-year-sees-pakistan-slide-down-democracy-index\/"},"modified":"2024-02-16T05:01:05","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T05:01:05","slug":"tumultuous-year-sees-pakistan-slide-down-democracy-index","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/tumultuous-year-sees-pakistan-slide-down-democracy-index\/","title":{"rendered":"Tumultuous year sees Pakistan slide down \u2018Democracy Index\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p>KARACHI: Democratic standards across the world fell in 2023 amid the spread of wars, authoritarian crackdowns and declining levels of trust in mainstream political parties, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Titled <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link--external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eiu.com\/n\/campaigns\/democracy-index-2023\/?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=organic_social&amp;utm_campaign=democracy-index-2023&amp;utm_term=global&amp;utm_content=map\">Age of Conflict<\/a>, the study provides a snapshot of the state of democracy in 165 independent states and two territories, and basing its scores on a range of indicators, each country is classified as one of four types of regime: full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime or authoritarian regime.<\/p>\n<p>The top three places in the index are occupied by Norway, New Zealand and Iceland, while the bottom three countries are North Korea, Myanmar and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<p>While the number of countries categorised as democracies increased, the global average index score fell to 5.23 in 2023 from 5.29 the year before, its lowest level since the first study was published in 2006.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"blockquote-level-1\">\n<p>Country downgraded by EIU to \u2018authoritarian regime\u2019; declines 11 places in global ranking<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>A case in point is Pakistan, which has suffered the biggest regression in the Asian region \u2014 its score falling to 3.25, triggering a downgrade from \u2018hybrid regime\u2019 to \u2018authoritarian regime\u2019 and a decline of 11 places in the global ranking. It is worth noting that more than half of the 28 countries in the region recorded a decline in their scores (15), and only eight improved their scores.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1777770\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Pakistan was among six states on the globe to have their classification changed \u2014 the others being Greece (which moved up to \u2018full democracy\u2019), Papua New Guinea and Paraguay (which improved from \u2018hybrid regimes\u2019 to become \u2018flawed democracies\u2019) and Angola (which was upgraded from its authoritarian classification to \u2018hybrid regime\u2019) \u2014 and the only Asian country to be downgraded so significantly.<\/p>\n<p>While noting the fact that the country has gone to the polls, the EIU pointed out that: \u201cUnsurprisingly, elections in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Russia \u2014 where opposition forces are subject to state repression \u2014 will not bring regime change or more democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of the reasons for this decline can be found in the indicators \u2018electoral process and pluralism\u2019 and \u2018functioning of government\u2019, where the EIU notes that the \u201coutsized political influence of the military\u2026 means that elections are far from being free, fair or competitive\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Neighbourhood on the rise<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While it is bleak in its outlook about Pakistan\u2019s electoral process, the EIU offers a glimmer of hope with regard to neighbouring India, which is classified as a \u2018flawed democracy\u2019, saying that there, polls \u201cat least allow for the possibility of change, although incumbents or anointed successors are likely to win in these too\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>However, it notes that incumbents are likely to retain power there, and the BJP \u2014 termed the biggest political party in the world with over 180m members \u2014 seemingly set to win another term after a decade in power.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1611710\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cMr Modi\u2019s brand of Hindu nationalism has disquieted the country\u2019s large Muslim minority but remains popular among the electorate as a whole,\u201d it says of the Indian ruler.<\/p>\n<p>In its detailed appraisal, EIU notes that India\u2019s scores for \u2018functioning of government\u2019 and \u2018political culture\u2019 improved, but its \u2018civil liberties\u2019 score declined.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe decline in the civil liberties score was due to the state\u2019s failure to protect minority rights amid inter-ethnic violence in the north-eastern state of Manipur between the mainly Hindu Meitei and predominantly Christian Kuki ethnic communities that erupted in May 2023. The state government imposed an internet blackout when the violence began.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMeanwhile, an increasingly conformist and self-censoring media paid little attention to what was happening in Manipur, despite mass displacement of people and brutal murders. Media blackouts are also common in regions with secessionist movements, including [Indian-held] Kashmir, and regional governments increasingly justify curbs on freedom of speech on the grounds of challenging disinformation and safeguarding national security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>China and India, the world\u2019s most populous countries, are said to have recorded the biggest score improvements in the region in 2023. China is classified as an \u2018authoritarian regime\u2019 with a very low score (2.12) and rank (148th) in the Democracy Index, while India is classified as a \u2018flawed democracy\u2019 with a fairly high score (7.18) and ranking (41th).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the case of China, the improvement in two indicators\u2014concerning the role of the military in politics and the representation of women in the country\u2019s political institutions \u2014 reflects a formal rather than substantive improvement in democratic governance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Developed world \u2018outnumbered\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On the economic front, however, EIU indicates a \u201cshift in the balance of economic power in the world\u201d over the past four decades, driven by China\u2019s meteoric rise.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1688205\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThis shift encompasses other economies in Asia, such as India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand, four of which already rank among the G20 club of the top 20 richest nations in the world,\u201d it says, adding that \u201cdeveloped Western economies are now in a minority, which is set to shrink further in coming decades\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Western Europe was the only region to improve its score, moving ahead of North America. The study said it was the first time that North America has not placed as the world\u2019s highest-scoring region.<\/p>\n<p>On the US, EIU says: \u201cA country crying out for change is the US. If the election comes down to a contest between \u2026 Joe Biden and \u2026 Donald Trump \u2026 a country that was once a beacon of democracy is likely to slide deeper into division and disenchantment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KARACHI: Democratic standards across the world fell in 2023 amid the spread of wars, authoritarian crackdowns and declining levels of trust in mainstream political parties, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said on Thursday. Titled Age of Conflict, the study provides a snapshot of the state of democracy in 165 independent states and two territories, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/02\/16084103490eb69.png?r=084118","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}