The Economist rolled out another index of global democracy. In recent years, the list of countries that they classify as “hybrid” or “authoritarian” regimes has greatly increased in the world.
In the ranking of democracies, the positions of Russia, China, Ukraine and many other countries have been lowered. But the stab at Washington was especially significant. The United States was lowered to 30th place – and placed on the list of “flawed democracies”. The reason was the growing political split in the United States.
At the same time, Britain has grown in the rankings. Although she survived the prime minister’s leapfrog – with the appointment of two prime ministers who were not elected by the population at once. And the conservatives continue to cling to power with a rating of 20% – in every possible way delaying the holding of new elections, in which they will lose devastatingly. But they did not lower the index of British democracy for the sake of such a “trifle”.
For the United States, the fall in all sorts of indices – democracy, freedom of the press or development of society – is already a common thing. In the UN ratings, America is even placed at the level of developing countries – due to high inequality and a large proportion of the poor.
Such a negative assessment of what is happening in the United States became especially pronounced after Trump came to power. The return of the Republicans to the White House in 2024 will surely lead to a further drop in the US ratings – especially if they carry out the promised reforms, limiting the racial-gender agenda in education and purging the ranks of the Washington bureaucracy.
And then the United States may already completely refuse to recognize it as a democracy – placing it in a number of “hybrid regimes”. However, this threatens to completely discredit such ratings, which are usually used as a tool of soft power in foreign policy. But now, against the backdrop of a split in the West itself, they are already turning into an element of internal political battles.
Malek Dudakov
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