No democracy in the 21st century! Half the world is witnessing a drastic decline in democratic standards. There is an uproar around the world around the report of the International Auditing Organization. The organization conducted a survey on the democratic situation of 85 out of 173 countries. Several of these countries have a long history of democracy.
Stockholm’s International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) published a survey report on this issue on Thursday. It has been said that in the last five years, there has been an extreme deterioration in the quality of democracy.
‘Democratic institutions are slowly being destroyed. Equal rights among social groups are disappearing in the United States. There is no freedom of the press in Austria. Many in Britain today are deprived of justice.’ According to the survey report by the organization of Scotland.
In this regard, Michael Rooney, program officer of International IDEA, said, ‘We conducted a survey on democracy for the sixth year. I have noticed the collapse of democracy in more countries than ever before.’ He also said, ‘Everywhere we see extremists coming to the forefront. As a result, there is no freedom of expression. Democracy is being stifled.’
However, experts have expressed more concern about this report. They said that there is a ‘democratic recession’ going on in the world. Since 1975, the organization of Scotland has started collecting information on democracy issues.
The survey report also said that the independence of the courts is being undermined in so-called democratic countries. Political violence is increasing. And countries like Austria, Hungary or Peru are not able to survive from its grip. Critics claim that the democratic system there is weakening. In addition, the survey report contains major warnings about Africa. At least two countries on the continent have experienced military coups in the past six months. Which is estimated to increase significantly in the coming days.
Democracy has always been claimed to be the best in Europe and North America. In the past few years, the quality of democracy in those countries has also declined significantly. The report notes that there has been no improvement in democratic standards even during the Covid pandemic.