Democratic Backsliding
Choose two countries where at least one is an English-speaking country. Study them closely and find out what is happening with the democratic development in these countries. Your text/presentation should also contain a discussion about which indicators that need to be in place in democratic countries and reflections about how we can prevent and reverse democratic backsliding.
Base your work on the information you find in the EIU democracy index and expand on this by using other sources. You will find the link to the democracy index and other useful sources at the end of the article.
Note:
The EIU democracy index differentiates between full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, and authoritarian regimes. While you are free to pick the countries you prefer, you will most likely find more information about countries that are defined as flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, or authoritarian regimes.
During your text/presentation, reflect on the following questions:
What are the cornerstones of a democracy? Which indicators need to be in place for a country to be able to call itself democratic? (Free elections, human rights, free access to information, rule of law ...)
What are the most important democratic challenges that we see in the world today?
How can we prevent and reverse democratic backsliding - as a society and as individual citizens?
What are the consequences if this development continues?
As part of your discussion, refer to the two countries you have chosen and explain how they experience democratic backsliding.
What is the form of government in the two countries that you have chosen? Are these countries flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, or authoritarian regimes?
Have these countries become more or less democratic in the past few years? (You will find the development of the individual countries in the EIU's Democracy Index.)
What are their greatest democratic challenges? Analyse the countries using the indicators of democracy that you have identified.
Useful sources:
Link to EIU Democracy Index, 2021
Download the report for free. Note that new reports are published every year. Choose the most current report.
Link to Democracy Index 2021: less than half the world lives in a democracy
Link to IDEA: Democratic backsliding: Different causes, divergent trajectories
Link to Council of Europe: Democracy
Link to Freedom House: Countries and Territories
Link to Transparency International: Corruption Perceptions Index
Link to United Nations: Universal Human Rights Index
Link to RFS: Press Freedom Index