The United States appears on International IDEA’s list of “falling democracies” for the first time.

America Appears first in the list of “declining democracy“, mainly because of the decline during the second half of the presidency trumpAccording to a report on Democracy in the World published on Monday.

According to the organization’s annual report, more than a quarter of the world’s population now lives in declining democracies, and if authoritarian or “hybrid” regimes are added, there is a trend toward a democratic decline of close to 70%, a trend as of 2016. Haven’t stopped since. international thought Based in Stockholm.

Its list of democracies, updated every year, already includes India, Brazil, the Philippines and two EU countries, Poland and Hungary. A third European nation, Slovenia, was added this year.

Although the United States remains “a high-level democracy”, the US blow is related to a decline in the country’s indicators regarding “civil liberties and government control”, he told AFP. Alexander Hudson, one of the study’s co-authors.

International Idea specifically cites “historic turning point” of November 2020 presidential election Donald Trump and “the lack of congressional investigations into presidential actions between 2018 and 2020.”

“We classified the United States as ‘in decline’ for the first time this year, but our data suggest that the episode of decline began at least in 2019,” Hudson stressed.

Covering half a century of democratic indicators and following most of the world’s countries (about 160), international thought classifies them into three categories: democracies (including “backward democracies”), “hybrid” regimes and authoritarian regimes.

“The visible decline of democracy in the United States is reflected in a growing tendency to question credible electoral results, attempts to suppress participation, and widespread polarization (…) which is one of the most worrying developments for democracy in the past. Globally,” the secretary general of International Idea told AFP, Kevin Cass-Zamora,

When seven countries registered, in a decade the number of countries where democracy is considered to be in decline doubled.

Last year, two countries on the list (Ukraine and North Macedonia) were removed from the list as the situation improved. Two others, Mali and Serbia, were excluded because they are not considered democracies.

For the fifth year in a row in 2020, the number of countries moving to authoritarianism exceeded the number of countries in the phase of democratization.

An unprecedented situation since the introduction of the organization’s data in the 70s and which should continue into 2021.

Burma, Afghanistan, Malik

Burma will move back from the ranks of democracy to an authoritarian regime, while Afghanistan and Mali will move from a hybrid regime to an authoritarian regime.

Zambia, now classified as a democracy, is the only country to have changed categories positively this year.

As of 2021, International Idea’s provisional score includes 98 democracies, the lowest number in many years, 20 “hybrid” regimes including Russia, Morocco and Turkey, and 47 authoritarian regimes including China, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Iran.

Linking declining democracies and hybrid and authoritarian regimes, “this reaches 70% of the world’s population. It shows that something serious is happening in terms of democratic quality,” Casas-Zamora underlined.

International IDEA confirmed its findings last year, with more than six out of ten countries implementing problematic measures to respect human rights or democratic rules. COVID-19, because they were “illegal, disproportionate, time-limited, or unnecessary”.

These acts cover more than nine out of ten authoritarian regimes, although more than 40% of democracies are also involved.

According to Casas-Zamora, “the pandemic has clearly accelerated some negative trends, especially in countries where democracy and the rule of law have previously suffered.”