Philippines No. 53 in global democracy index

The Philippines slipped a notch to No. 53 out of 167 countries and territories in the 2023 Democracy Index of the London-based think tank Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Scoring 6.6 out of 10, the Philippines remained under the “flawed democracy” category in 2023. 

EIU is the research and analysis division of The Economist Group, a leading source of international business and world affairs information.

In the Democracy Index, the think tank examines the state of global democracy based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties. 

It then categorizes the countries and territories into four types of regime based on their scores —  full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime, or authoritarian regime.

The Philippines scored 9.17 in electoral process and pluralism;  4.64 in functioning of government; 7.78 in political participation; 4.38 in political culture; and 7.35 in civil liberties, resulting to the “flawed democracy” category or among the nations where elections are fair and free and basic civil liberties are honored but may have some issues.

According to the EIU, the number of democracies increased by two to 74 in 2023 but the “year was not an auspicious one for democracy”. 

“The global average index score fell to 5.23, down from 5.29 in 2022. This is in keeping with a general trend of regression and stagnation in recent years, and it marks a new low since the index began in 2006,” it said. 

It also said the “world’s democracies seem powerless to prevent wars from breaking out around the globe and less adept at managing conflict at home”. 

“In 2023 wars in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East caused immense suffering and undermined prospects for positive political change. As US hegemony is increasingly contested, China vies for global influence, and emerging powers such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey assert their interests, the international order is becoming more unstable,” the EIU said. 

“Meanwhile, even the world’s most developed democracies are struggling to manage political and social conflict at home, suggesting that the democratic model developed during the eight decades after the second world war is no longer working,” it added. 

Further, the index said, “half a dozen other countries classified as ‘flawed democracies’ are facing internal conflicts, including gang warfare, of greater or lesser severity, including Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Jamaica, the Philippines, and Thailand, with the number of deaths annually exceeding 100—by a wide margin in some places”. 

Norway remains the top country with full democracy in the global rankings. It was followed by New Zealand, Iceland, Sweden, and Finland respectively. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine remains struggling to improve its state of democracy while Russia continues to steadily slide towards outright dictatorship as crackdowns on all forms of opposition intensify.  —NB, GMA Integrated News