The Democracy Index and Africa´s Performance
Dr. Wolassa L. Kumo
April 26, 2009
Introduction

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) published its second ever
democracy index in the late 2008. The index measures the democratic
status of 167 countries in the world. The organization looked at about
60 indicators of democracy in each country and divided the 167
countries surveyed into four categories: full democracies, flawed
democracies, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes.

The 60 indicators of democracy were graded from 1 to 10 while the
indicators were spread across five broad areas: electoral process and
pluralism; functioning of government; political participation;
political culture; and civil liberties. A country with the highest
overall score is considered to be the most democratic while that with
the least overall score is considered to be the least democratic. The
Economist Intelligence Unit´s index is by far the most scientific and
the most reliable measure of democratic deepening with in the
countries of the world.

Democracy in the World: which countries are the most democratic in the word?

According to the EIU´s 2008 democracy index, there are only 30 full
democracies in the world. Although, the United States is one of the 30
full democracies in the world, it is not the most democratic
country.It is not even one of the 15 most democratic countries in the
world.

According to both the 2006 and the 2008 EIU democracy index, the most
democratic country in the world is Sweden. Sweden scored a whopping
9.88 out of 10 for both 2006 and 2008 EIU democracy index. The
remaining world´s top fifteen most democratic countries, in order of
their rank, are: Norway, Iceland, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, New
Zealand, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Germany,
Austria and Spain. Except Australia and new Zealand, the top fifteen
democratic countries in the world are found in western Europe. The top
5 near perfect democracies are the north European social democracies.
The more egalitarian social democracies are found to be better
democracies than nonegalitarian liberal democracies.

The United States, the "world´s democracy watchdog", is itself only
18th full democracy after Japan, the second largest economy in the
world, and one of the only two full democracies from the Asian
continent, the second being South Korea, the 28th full democracy. The
United States scored 7.86 for the "Functioning of government", lower
than Mauritius in Africa which scored 8.21. Furthermore, for
"Political participation", the United States scored 7.22 at par with
South Korea and lower than many other advanced economies.

The 30 full democracies are dominated by the OECD member states except
a few full democracies from developing regions such as Cost Rica and
Uruguay in Latin America; Mauritius in Africa; and the two emerging
economies of Eastern Europe, the Czech Republic and Slovenia.

Democracy in Africa

The EIU democracy survey in 2008 covered 44 countries in Africa.
According to the EIU 2008 democracy index, the only full democracy in
Africa is Mauritius. Mauritius is the 26th full democracy with the
overall score of 8.04 out of 10. Mauritius is one of the African
islands, located about 900 kms to the east of Madagascar, in the
western Indian Ocean. It has a population of about 1.3 million and the
seventh biggest per capita income in the continent, which makes it one
of the few middle income economies in the continent.

Countries that have qualified for full democracy obtained an average
score of 7.96 and above, for the five key democracy indicators of
electoral process and pluralism; functioning of government; political
participation; political culture; and civil liberties.

Countries with the average scores between 7.91 and 6.04 were
categorized as flawed democracies. Accordingly, 50 countries in the
world were classified as flawed democracies in 2008 by the EIU. Among
these, 6 are found in sub Saharan Africa. South Africa, the largest
economy in Africa, and the only African member of the G20 countries,
slightly missed the full democracy list in 2008 with the average score
of 7.91. South Africa´s over all score was affected by lower scores
for election process and pluralism, and political culture for which
the country scored 8.75 and 6.88 respectively.

The April 22, 2009 parliamentary elections in South Africa were
largely free and fair and are exemplary to the continent plagued by
vote rigging, intimidation of the opposition candidates and post
election violence. This will improve South Africa´s image as Africa´s
beacon of democracy. Hopefully, during the 2010 review of the EIU
democracy index, South Africa will move up the ladder to join today´s
30 full democracies of the world.

The other flawed democracies in Africa, in order of highest rank, are:
Cape Verde, Botswana, Trinidad and Tobago, Namibia, Lesotho and Benin.

Mali was flawed democracy according to the EIU 2006 index but was
downgraded in to a hybrid regime in 2008. The reason given by EIU for
the downgrading of Mali´s democracy index was the deterioration in
civil liberties as the government has restricted media freedoms, while
insecurity has increased as a result of insurgency in the north of the
country.

Most of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa are hybrid regimes and
totalitarian regimes. In sub-Saharan Africa, in 2006, there were 13
hybrid regimes and 23 totalitarian regimes while in 2008 there were 15
hybrid regimes and 22 totalitarian regimes. Between 2006 and 2008
democracy in sub-Saharan Africa has at best stagnated if not
deteriorated. This has been the general global trend. Since mid
2000´s, globally, democracy has generally stagnated and some analysts
believe that the current global economic recession followed the global
"democratic recession". In 2006, globally, there were only 30 hybrid
regimes but in 2008 there were 36 hybrid regimes. On the other hand,
the number of authoritarian regimes decreased from 55 in 2006 to 51 in
2008.

Africa´s Hybrid and Authoritarian Regimes

In 2008, of the 30 hybrid regimes in the world, 15 are in sub-Saharan
Africa while of the 51 authoritarian regimes of the world 22 are found
in the African continent both in sub- Saharan and north Africa. The
EIU democracy index scores for hybrid regimes range from the high of
5.91 to the low of 4.00. The 15 hybrid regimes in sub-Saharan Africa
in order of their rank from high to low are: Mali, Madagascar,
Mozambique, Senegal, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Liberia, Malawi, Uganda,
Kenya, Ethiopia, Burundi, Gambia and Sierra Leone.



The hybrid regimes perform better on the election processes and
pluralism because they allow some form of political pluralism and
conduct elections. However, these elections are often neither free nor
fair. These regimes perform dismally on other indicators of democracy
such as political participation, functioning of government, political
culture and civil liberties. These regimes share certain features of
democratic and authoritarian regimes.

These countries need to implement genuine political reforms to improve
election processes and political pluralism as well as governance and
develop more tolerance to civil rights, in order to improve their
democratic credentials. Otherwise they will easily slide back to the
authoritarian systems whose features they partly share.

The EIU democracy index scores for the authoritarian regimes range
from 3.93 to 0.86. The world´s most authoritarian regime is North
Korea with the overall score of 0.86 for 2008. The Africa´s Chad is
the second most authoritarian regime in the world with the overall
score of just 1.52. Other authoritarian regimes in Africa from highest
to lowest scores are: Mauritania, Egypt, Morocco, Rwanda, Burkina
Faso, Comoros, Nigeria, Cameron, Niger, Angola, Algeria, Cote
d´Ivoire, Swaziland, Gabon, Tunisia, Congo Brazzaville, Sudan,
Zimbabwe, Togo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Libya, Guinea-Bissau, Central African
Republic, and Chad. Some authoritarian regimes are the poorest regimes
in the continent while others are not. The oil rich Nigeria, Angola,
Egypt, Libya, Algeria and Gabon are all middle income economies but
are typical kleptocracies. The correlation between democracy and level
of economic development (income per capita) is however not clear cut.
But obviously most democratic countries are the most developed
countries in the world.

Gabon´s President Omar Bongo has been in power since 1967, at the age
of 31, and is now the world´s longest serving head of republican state
(the world's longest serving current Head of State (monarchy) is King
Rama IX of Thailand, King since June 9, 1946; followed by Queen
Elizabeth II of UK). Other longest serving heads of states and
governments in Africa are: Muammar Qaddafi of Libya in power since
1969, Eduardo Dos Santos of Angola, since 1979; Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe since 1980; Hosni Mubarak of Egypt since 1981; Paul Biya of
Cameroon since 1982; Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo Brazzaville between
1979-1992 and again since 1997 to date; King Makhosetive Mswati III of
Swaziland since 1987 (Swaziland is Africa´s last absolute monarchy);
Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia since 1987; and Yoweri Museveni of
Uganda since 1986. No wonder that the EIU democracy index puts these
countries at the bottom of the world democracy scales. The poorest
continent in the world is well known for its longest serving
kleptocracies.

Concluding Remarks

The Economist Intelligence Unit´s index of democracy is by far the
most comprehensive measure of democratic deepening with in the
countries of the world. The five major democracy indictors, viz.,
election process and pluralism; functioning of government; political
participation; political culture; and civil liberties cut across all
key spheres of political processes, governance, and human and
democratic rights of citizens.

More egalitarian social democracies tended to score higher on the
index compared to the nonegalitarian liberal democracies. The world´s
top five most democratic states (near perfect democracies) are the
north European social democracies. The world´s near perfect democracy
is Sweden while the world´s most repressive authoritarian regime is
North Korea.

Only one African country, Mauritius, is among the 30 full democracies
in the world. South Africa misses this list with a very small margin.
About 50 countries in the world are imperfect (flawed) democracies.
Only 6 African countries are among this group. Most African countries
are either hybrid or authoritarian regimes. Half of the world´s hybrid
regimes and about forty five percent of totalitarian regimes are found
in Africa. Africa is home for the world´s longest serving heads of
republican states, although world´s longest serving monarchies are
found in Asia and Europe.

Although there is no clear cut correlation between the level of
development and democracy, most advanced economies are obviously most
democratic while most authoritarian regimes preside over the majority
poverty stricken citizens. Globally, the recent trend in democratic
transformation has been discouraging. The current global economic
recession followed what some analysts term as global "democratic
recession". Africa´s performance has been worse. With several coups in
the continent since 2005, beginning with the Mauritanian military
takeover, and post election violence in several other countries
including Ethiopia´s 2005 elections, Kenya´s 2007 elections and
Zimbabwe´s political nightmare, and the most recent unconstitutional
change of government in Madagascar, democracy in the continent is
facing serious setbacks.

The citizens´ hope to eradicate the current massive poverty in the
continent is directly linked to the continents´ ability to carry out
sustainable democratic transformation. Undemocratic regimes in other
parts of the world were development oriented while African hybrid and
authoritarian regimes are fundamentally kleptocracies. The African
citizens must break the cycle of silence and subordination to these
kleptocracies and drive the democratic transformation in every single
country of concern.

Reference

Economist Intelligence Unit 2006: Index of Democracy 2006

Economist Intelligence Unit 2008: Index of Democracy 2008

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