Is Putin's 'Election-Style Event' actually indicative of the health of Global Democracy?
Freedom in the world is measurably declining… what can we do?
Listen to this week’s episode, here.
As part of Alex Hall Hall’s preparation for a new diplomatic posting, she always brushes up on Freedom House’s latest offerings. Freedom House (a DC based NGO) produces a survey every year on “Freedom in the World” – reviewing the state of democracy, civil and political rights in every country in the world, and giving each one a rating – Free, Partly Free, or Not Free, according to a set of criteria, such as the state of civil society, the frequency and conduct of elections, the independence of the media and the judiciary, and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. According to Alex, “I found it [The Freedom House Report] an invaluable resource for understanding the political situation in the country in which I was about to serve.”
This year’s report is ominously titled, The Mounting Damage of Flawed Elections and Armed Conflict.
Freedom House—monitoring the vital signs of global democracy or when did global freedom start requiring life support?
You might describe Freedom House’s report as a kind of annual “global democracy healthcheck”. On that basis, the world is getting sicker — and Putin's 'Election-Style Event', aka his every few years re-coronation, is not an aberration but actually quite indicative of the health of Global Democracy.
A little super fan digression never hurt anyone
My old friend and next week’s guest on this podcast Brian Klaas has been working on pseudo-elections, election-rigging, sham elections, and stage managed elections for his whole career.
He has an interesting substack from a few days ago, ‘Why do dictators hold "elections"—but rig them?’ on the recent Russian iteration of the trend that you can read here. He also literally wrote (or actually co-authored) the book, How to Rig an Election. And a related work, The Despot's Accomplice: How the West is Aiding & Abetting the Decline of Democracy. If you are interested in how cosplaying ‘Freedom and Elections’ has advantages for dictatorships, I think you might enjoy both outputs to provide further depth on this topic… or if you are just a Brian Klaas super fan stay tuned for next week when we delve into his most recent book ‘Fluke’. It is gonna involve some big big picture discussions of life, fate, free will, and nature of the universe… I hope you don’t miss it. Also consider subscribing to Brian’s Forking Path’s substack here.
But I digress….
According to the latest version of the Freedom House report, released just this month, freedom in the world has declined for the 18th year in a row, affecting one-fifth of the world’s population. Political and civil liberties have got worse in 52 countries in the past 12 months, while only 21 countries have seen their ratings improve. The ability of incumbents to co-opt the trappings of democracy is a long standing problem but technology has actually allowed for greater media cooptation.
What lies behind this depressing trend? And what does it signify for the future? To help us understand the factors behind, and implications of, the deteriorating state of democracy in the world, Alex was joined on this week’s Disorder pod by the President of Freedom House, Mike Abramowitz. Prior to running Freedom House, Mike was director of the Holocaust Museum, and before that, he worked for 24 years at the Washington Post, as national editor, and then White House correspondent. He also has the distinction of being one of only a handful of named American citizens singled out for sanctions by the Chinese Government, imposed in 2020 as a response to his support for the Hong Kong Democracy movement in 2019-2020.
In this year’s ‘Freedom in the World’ report -- which reviews the state of democracy, civil, and political rights in every country -- political and civil liberties have got worse in 52 countries, while in only 21 countries have they improved.
What dynamics lie behind this trend? And what does it signify for the future? In the episode, Alex and Mike delve into the report in more detail, the threats facing elections around the world, the implications of the stifling of the free press, and what could be done to revive the recent decline in global freedom.
Listen to the episode, here.
Find out more about Freedom House and its head Below:
To read Freedom House’s Freedom In The World Report, visit: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2024/mounting-damage-flawed-elections-and-armed-conflict
For more on Mike Abramowitz: https://freedomhouse.org/expert/michael-abramowitz
His article in TIME, ‘How Authoritarian Regimes Go After Journalists Beyond Their Borders’: https://time.com/6342534/transnational-repression-freedom-house/