EIU Announces Democracy Index 2022
"Adversarial Party Politics Causes Damage"
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyun-jung] A British research institute announced that South Korea's democracy index ranks 24th out of 167 countries worldwide.
On the 1st (local time), the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), an economic analysis institute affiliated with the British weekly news magazine The Economist, released the "Democracy Index 2022." Since 2006, the EIU has evaluated 167 countries based on five areas: election process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties, calculating each country's democracy development level on a scale of 0 to 10. Based on this, countries scoring above 8 are classified as "full democracies," those scoring over 6 up to 8 as "flawed democracies," over 4 up to 6 as "hybrid regimes," and below 4 as "authoritarian regimes."
South Korea rose from a "flawed democracy" to a "full democracy" by ranking 23rd with a score of 8.01 in 2020, then jumped seven places to 16th with 8.16 points in 2021. However, last year, it barely maintained an 8-point score at 8.03 but dropped eight places to 24th.
Looking at South Korea's scores by category: election process and pluralism received 9.58 points, functioning of government 8.57 points, political participation 7.22 points, political culture 6.25 points, and civil liberties 8.53 points. Compared to the previous year, the civil liberties score rose by 0.59 points, but the political culture score fell by 1.25 points, causing the overall average score to decline.
The EIU analyzed this by stating, "Years of adversarial party politics have damaged South Korea's democracy," adding, "The dichotomous interpretation of politics has shrunk the space for consensus and compromise, paralyzing policy-making." It also pointed out, "Politicians expend political energy on defeating rival politicians rather than seeking consensus and improving citizens' lives."
North Korea ranked 165th out of 167 countries, maintaining the same position as last year, with a score of 1.08, unchanged from the previous assessment. Countries scoring lower than North Korea were Myanmar (0.74 points), where military rule continues after a coup, and Afghanistan (0.32 points), governed by the Taliban.
The top-ranked country in the democracy index was Norway (9.81 points), followed by New Zealand (9.61 points), Iceland (9.52 points), Sweden (9.39 points), Finland (9.29 points), Denmark (9.28 points), Switzerland (9.14 points), Ireland (9.13 points), and the Netherlands (9.00 points).
Among Asian countries, Taiwan scored the highest with 8.99 points, and Japan rose one place from the previous year to 16th with 8.33 points, surpassing South Korea. The United States scored 7.85 points, dropping four places to 30th compared to the previous survey. The U.S., classified as a "full democracy" from 2006 to 2015, was categorized as a "flawed democracy" during the late Barack Obama administration in 2016 and throughout Donald Trump's four-year term, and the decline has continued after the inauguration of the Joe Biden administration. Ukraine, at war, ranked 87th with 5.42 points, while Russia plummeted 22 places from 124th to 146th with 2.28 points.
Among the surveyed countries, 24 (14.4%) were classified as "full democracies," 48 (28.7%) as "flawed democracies," 36 (21.6%) as "hybrid regimes," and 59 (35.3%) as "authoritarian regimes." The overall average score for all surveyed countries in 2022 was 5.29 points, slightly above the record low of 5.28 points the previous year. The EIU attributed this to restrictions on individual freedoms due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The proportion of the world's population living under democratic regimes was 45.3%, while 36.9% lived under authoritarian rule.
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