How the United States has become a flawed democracy due to the pandemic
As we know democracies have been around for a very long time, and for good reason. But some democracies are better than others and that is exactly what the democracy index tries to accomplish. And in order to do this each country is ranked along 60 different factors and then categorized into either Electoral Process and Pluralism, Functioning of the Government, Political Participation, Political Culture, and Civil Liberties. All of these factors ultimately determine the score of that country on a scale of 0–10, the closer the score is to 10 the more democratic that country is. From this point the countries are then divided into four general areas, the first of which scoring from 8–10 is “Full Democracies” where freedom and democracy aren’t only respected but are reinforced by political culture and balanced power. Next is a score of 6–8 which is “Flawed Democracies” and this is where the country is fair and has free elections and basic civil liberties. Then there is a score of 4–6 and is “Hybrid Regimes”, here there are issues in that country that prevent them from being fully fair. And lastly is a score of 0–4 (“Authoritarian Regimes”), and this consists of a democracy where political freedom does not exist or is very limited.
Now that we have a good understanding of the democracy index, we can now ask ourselves what we can learn from it? And why is it important? As stated before, democracies are super important, and to be apart of a good democracy is what the United States of America should strive for. As of 2021 the top contenders are Norway, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, and Iceland. And at the bottom of the list we have the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, North Korea, Myanmar, and Afghanistan.
From this we can see that a great deal of western Europe makes up for the vast majority of countries that are “Full Democracies”. And we can see from this data that the United States of America does not make this list, but instead is now considered a “Flawed Democracy” with a score of 7.85 and ranks 26th. “The EIU said the results continued to reflect the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Citing measures such as lockdowns and travel restrictions, the report said the pandemic had resulted in an unprecedented withdrawal of civil liberties among developed democracies and authoritarian regimes alike.”
In contrast to 2010, the United States had a score of 8.18 and ranked 17th. Now since 2010 there are several countries that fluctuate greatly throughout this list. But overtime the United States has made the transition from a “Full Democracy” to now a “Flawed Democracy”. While atop the list for 2010 we still have a great deal of western Europe being represented with countries like Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, and New Zealand. While at the bottom of the list we have Myanmar, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Chad, and North Korea.
This decline in the score for the United States was not the only one effected, there are several countries that suffered a decline in score as a result of the pandemic. “The pandemic has also exposed inequalities in health care, weaknesses in economic safety nets and government mismanagement in countries trying to curb a virus that has killed millions of people. It has also opened the door for governments to exploit the health crisis to suppress political participation.”
Our democracy is not what it used to be, and the pandemic has definitely influenced the score we have received and has classified us as a “Flawed Democracy”. But there are countries that despite the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic have remained “Full Democracies” since 2010, and that is western Europe. And because of this we should look towards those countries and learn from how they approached the situation of the pandemic. But not only to learn from how they handled the pandemic, but to also learn how they score so well within each category. A country much like Norway which has a perfect score in Electoral Process and pluralism, Political participation, and Political Culture. If we want the United States of America to truly be a great democracy we need to learn by example.
Bibliography
· Millson, Alex. “‘Flawed’ U.S. Falls Down List of World’s Most Democratic Countries.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-10/these-are-the-world-s-most-and-least-democratic-countries.
· Francis, Ellen. “Global Freedoms Have Hit a ‘Dismal’ Record Low, with Pandemic Restrictions Making Things Worse, Report Says.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 10 Feb. 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/10/global-democracy-index-2021-pandemic/.