Recently the Global State of Democracy Report, 2021 has been released by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International-IDEA).
Under this report, three major types of governance, namely democracy, hybrid and authoritarian rule have been mentioned.
Competitive elections are held in a democracy, in which the opposition has a real chance of gaining power. This does not happen in mixed and authoritarian regimes, both of which are classified as non-democratic regimes.
Key findings
- In the year 2020, the number of countries adopting the authoritarian trend of governance exceeded the countries adopting the democratic trend. Apart from this, the global pandemic has also widened this trend.
- Even in established democracies, electoral integrity is being questioned, mostly without any evidence.
- Democratically elected governments are increasingly adopting authoritarian tactics.
- The uneven global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as anti-vaccine views, slow down the pace of vaccination programmes. These run the risk of prolonging the duration of the health crisis and normalizing restrictions on basic freedoms.
- Countries around the world have held elections in extreme adverse conditions to allow citizens to continue to exercise their democratic rights.
- Despite restrictions on gathering or gathering, more than 80% of countries have seen protests during the pandemic.
- There have also been indications of democratic rights issues being raised by the private sector, such as the treatment of Uighurs in China.
International-IDEA
- International-IDEA is an intergovernmental organization. It has the mandate to promote and improve democracy around the world. India is a founding member of it. It was established in the year 1995 and currently 33 countries are its members.
- It advances democracy around the world as an enabler of universal human aspiration and sustainable development through the creation, strengthening and security support of democratic political institutions and processes at all levels.
Source – The Hindu
