Freedom House Reports a Decline of Freedom for the Twelfth Straight Year; Russia, China and Donald Trump Are Cited

           The continued rise of authoritarianism has caused an increase in the number of people around the world who are not free to increase for the twelfth consecutive year, according to the latest report from Freedom House: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018. 

After a period of increased freedom, liberty is under its greatest threat in decades, with free and fair elections, the rule of law, the freedom of the press and minority rights are all under attack.

            The increased global influence of Communist Russia and China, and the withdrawal of American leadership for freedom, which has accelerated during the presidency of Donald Trump, are to blame, according to the report.  Russia undermines democracy abroad through interference in elections with disinformation, while China supports despotic regimes and makes demands on other countries, including the return of refugees.  Self-rule and freedom have also been diminished by the Chinese Communists in Hong Kong.  Both Russian and China regard representative government and liberty as a threat to their despotic regimes.

           A majority of countries in the world are unfree or partly free and a majority of the global population is not free.  There has been a decline in freedom in a majority of the 195 countries assessed since 2006.  The decline in freedom in Eastern Europe and even the United States under the Trump Administration noted by Freedom House is particularly alarming.

            Freedom House’s report observes that Turkey is no longer partly free, but is now not free.  Turkey had been a secular representative republic, but has become an authoritarian Islamist state.  The Turkish President has followed a similar model to that of Venezuela and Russia of democratically elected officials becoming increasingly authoritarian.  The democratically-elected Burmese Government has been a disappointment, as it has engaged in ethnic cleansing against its Muslim minority.  The report notes progress in a few countries: The Gambia, East Timor, Uganda, Ecuador and Nepal.  Although there was some regression in Tunisia because of the postponement of local elections and a concern about the influence of elements of the former oppressive regime, it remains the only free Arab state, with most being unfree and a few only partly free.  Syria is the most unfree state in the world.  The vast majority of the world’s unfree countries are in African and Asia, as Russia and Belarus in Europe and Cuba and Venezuela in the Americas are the only other unfree countries.  Communist and Islamist states, and especially countries in civil war, account for a large share of the tally of unfree countries and are among the least free countries.    

           It is essential to take immediate action to reverse the global trend toward authoritarianism.  When liberty is threatened anywhere, it is threatened everywhere.  Freedom is also in the interest to the entire world because it leads to peace and prosperity.   The United States must lead the world once again toward liberty, through a principled foreign policy and by defending itself from interference in its public discourse and its elections from foreign adversaries.  It must also serve again as a better example by maintaining its principles, such as the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, freedom of the press and respect for the human rights of refugees and asylum seekers.