Democracy Index 2024 and Africa

The Economist Intelligence Unit has just released its "Democracy Index 2024."   The index provides a snapshot of the state of democracy in 165 independent states and two territories.  The index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.  Each country is classified as one of four types of regime: full democracy (25 countries), flawed democracy (46), hybrid regime (36), or authoritarian regime (60).

The index ranks 50 African countries.  The only one in the full democracy category is Mauritius (#20).  Six are flawed democracies: Botswana (#35), Cabo Verde (#37), South Africa (#43), Namibia (#58), Ghana (#65), and Lesotho (#70).  Sixteen are hybrid regimes and 27 are authoritarian regimes.  In Africa, the Central African Republic (#164) is at the bottom and Sudan is not much better (#162).

By comparison, the United States is a flawed democracy at number 28 and China is an authoritarian regime at number 145.

South Sudan and Civil Liberties

Reporters without Borders, an international press freedom organization with headquarters in Paris, visited South Sudan in May and released in July 2012 an investigation report titled South Sudan: World's Youngest Country Yet to Embark on Road to Civil Liberties.

Reporters without Borders concluded that South Sudan is not currently prey to concerted and systematic harassment of its media. But there has been a disturbing accumulation of incidents and isolated acts of repression or intimidation that end up undermining the climate in which journalists and media operate. The single most important problem raised with Reporters without Borders during its visit was "the brutality of the security forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Army."

Click here to read the report.