Trinidad and Tobago top the region on Democracy Index for 2020
The majority of the Caribbean nations assessed in the 2020 Democracy Index have been described as having flawed democracies.
The countries were assessed on their Electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, Political participation, Political Culture, and Civil liberties.
Trinidad and Tobago ranked 41 on the index, which was two places better than in 2019.
The twin-island nation received an overall score of 7.16 out of 10.
T&T received 9.58 in the Electoral process and pluralism category, 7.14 in Functioning of government, 6.11 in Political participation, 5.63 in Political culture, and 7.35 in Civil liberties
Jamaica was one spot behind, which was an improvement of eight places.
Jamaica was given an overall score of 7.13 to tie with the European nation of Lithuania. The island was given 8.75 in Electoral process and pluralism, 7.14 in Functioning of government, 5.00 in Political participation, 6.25 in Political culture, and 8.53 in Civil liberties
Suriname fell two places to 51 with an overall score of 6.82.
The Dominican Republic placed 63 with a score of 6.32.
Guyana fell four places to 75, which is just above being declared a hybrid regime, which combines features of autocracy and democracy.
The country received 6.50 in Electoral process and pluralism, 5.36 in the Functioning of government, 6.11 in Political participation, 5.00 in Political culture, and 7.06 in Civil liberties.
Haiti was the lowest-ranked Caribbean nation at 106 receiving a score of 4.22.
The island received 4.75 in Electoral process and pluralism, 1.71 in the Functioning of government, 2.78 in Political participation, 6.25 in Political culture, and 5.59 in Civil liberties.
Norway, Iceland, Sweden, and New Zealand copped the top four spots.
In this thirteenth edition of the index, The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) focused on the impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic on democracy and freedom around the world.
“It looks at how the pandemic resulted in the withdrawal of civil liberties on a massive scale and fuelled an existing trend of intolerance and censorship of dissenting opinion,” EIU reported.
“In 2020 a large majority of countries, 116 of a total of 167 (almost 70 percent), recorded a decline in their total score compared with 2019. Only 38 (22.6 percent) recorded an improvement and the other 13 stagnated, with their scores remaining unchanged compared with 2019.”
Some highlights of the report include Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan moving from the “flawed democracy” category to be classified as “full democracies”.
France and Portugal experienced a reversal, losing the “full democracy” designation and re-joining the ranks of “flawed democracies”.
Promise
Senior Staff Reporter
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