The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) released the fourteenth edition of its “Democracy Index” in which it measures the state of democracy in 167 countries (165 independent states and 2 territories) around the globe in the year 2021. Said index is the arithmetic average of the scores reported in five major dimensions of democracy, namely “electoral process and pluralism”, “civil liberties”, “the functioning of government”, “political participation”, and “political culture”. The report also classifies countries under four main types of regimes, namely “full democracies” (score: 8-10), “flawed democracies” (score: 6-7.99), “hybrid regimes” (score: 4-5.99), and “authoritarian regimes” (score: 0-4). In this vein, 21 countries (12.6% of countries covered; 6.4% of world population) emerged as “full democracies”, 53 countries (31.7% of countries covered; 39.3% of world population) as “flawed democracies”, 34 countries (20.4% of countries covered; 17.2% of world population) as “hybrid regimes”, and 59 countries (35.3% of countries covered; 37.1% of world population) as “authoritarian regimes”. According to the findings of the EIU report, the year 2021 saw a setback in civil liberties worldwide as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, sending the global index score to an all-time low of 5.28 (second annual decline). More specifically, some 74 nations experienced a deterioration in their total score compared with 2020 scores and only 47 recorded an improvement in their overall score. Nevertheless, the report highlighted that 45.7% of the world’s population lived in some form of democracy compared to a higher proportion of 49.4% in 2020. In the same vein, the report added that only 6.4% of the world’s population lived in full democracy and more than one third lived under an authoritarian regime, with a big share represented by China alone.

In figures, and on a global level, Norway topped the list of the world’s most democratic countries (score: 9.75) for yet a consecutive year, followed by New Zealand (score: 9.37) and Finland (score: 9.27). The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remained the poorest performing region in the world in the 2021 Democracy Index, with its average score now standing below pre-Arab Spring levels. In this regard, the report highlighted that only Tunisia managed to improve its score since the onset of the Arab Spring. Tunisia, characterized by a “hybrid regime”, ranked first in the region in the 2021 Democracy Index, with an overall score of 5.99 while also ranking 75^th in the world regressing by 21 position from 2020. Morocco, also considered as a “hybrid regime”, came second (score: 5.04; global rank: 95) improving by one position year-on-year. Lebanon, on the other hand, witnessed a sharp annual deterioration, slipping from a “hybrid regime” to an “authoritarian” one, as its score nose-dived from 4.16 in 2020 to 3.84 in 2021, ranking as such 111^th on global basis and 5^th on a regional basis. The report noted that protest movements in Lebanon failed to yield any tangible democratic change, while also adding that support for military rule has increased.