The world is a little less free

Posted By Drew Kumpf Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 2:43 PM Share

Freedom House's 2008 Freedom in the World Report, a report card on the global state of democracy, brings unhappy tidings. For the first time in 15 years, freedom in the world has declined overall for two years in a row. In 2007, repressive countries got more repressive and some key regional players slid backwards. Here are some of the highlights:

Georgia and Kyrgyzstan (the two "color revolutions") saw declines. Georgia's civil liberties decreased in media and free expression, and both countries experienced restricted political opposition.
Kenya and Nigeria, once regarded as models for democratic development, also fell in ratings. Chaos is still ongoing in the wake of unfair elections in Kenya, and Nigeria's elections were "judged to be extremely flawed," according to the report's summary.
We all know about Russia's growing democratic shortcomings, but several of the former Soviet republics are following its downward slide. Azerbaijan, of all the 56 members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), now has the largest number of journalists in prison. And Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev managed to get his pesky presidential term limits removed and arranged for a new parliament that includes zero, count 'em, zero members of the opposition.
On a happier note, support for democracy and trust in government is growing in Latin America. Aside from Western Europe and North America, it is the best-scoring region, and the only Latin American country still classified as "Not Free" is Cuba.

These rankings aren't just an idle intellectual exercise, but will be used in the United States for high school and college curricula and by the government to evaluate countries for the Millennium Challenge Account program.

And, in what could unintentionally become a political football during an election year, Freedom House announced that it will publish a more in-depth report on freedom in the United States. The book will raise such issues as a problematic election process, trade unions and collective bargaining, and civil liberties as they relate to the war on terrorism. Watch for it to make headlines in March.

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