Israel ranked as the only democracy in Mideast, but it isn't 'flawless' - survey
The Economist's annual Democracy Index ranked Israel 30th in the world, right after the U.S. and followed by Portugal
The political regime in Israel is a "flawed democracy," said the recently published annual Democracy Index by The Economist. According to the rating, Israel remains the only democracy in the Middle East, traditionally the worst-ranking region that has no "full democracies."
The index ranked Israel 30th in the world. It comes right after Estonia, Malta and the United States, and is followed by Portugal, Slovenia and Botswana.
As the report highlights, despite being positioned in the "flawed" group, Israel remains the only democracy in the Middle East. Tunisia and Morocco are classified as "hybrid regimes," while the rest of the region's 20 countries fall within the category of "authoritarian" regimes.
The report says the the region's accumulated score lowered across all five evaluated categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning government, political participation, political culture and civil liberties. Only one country across the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates, saw an improved score over last year.
The rating is traditionally led by Norway, followed by New Zealand, Iceland, Sweden and Finland, and the 2023 Index is no exception. As for the bottom of the list, the five lowest-ranking countries are Syria, Central African Republic, North Korea, Myanmar and, finally, Afghanistan.
The report authors highlighted that 2023 shows a strong correlation between democracy and peace and non-democracy and conflict, potentially supporting a popular view that democracies do not conduct wars against each other.
Such is the case in Ukraine, where the two-year war is taking a toll on the country's democracy, stated the report. Russia, which now ranks 144th, lower than Venezuela and Nicaragua, continues to "steadily slide towards outright dictatorship."
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Greece, which recently legalized same-sex marriage despite the strong opposition from the church, returned to the "full democracy" category.
The report emphasizes the importance of the 2024 electoral cycle, as more than half of the world's population will go to the polls to elect new governments this year, with Europe and Africa hosting the largest number of elections.
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