Democracy deteriorating worldwide amid pandemic: report

Democracy is deteriorating across the world amid the coronavirus pandemic as a number of nations have taken undemocratic actions in order to slow the spread of COVID-19, according to a report from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) released on Monday.

The organization, based in Sweden and made up of representatives of 34 different nations across the world, according to The Associated Press, said that “many democratic governments are backsliding” and have taken an action to battle COVID-19 that it considers “disproportionate, unnecessary or illegal.”

The organization said in its report that 64 percent of countries worldwide had implemented restrictions along these lines. 

The multinational organization said that “Authoritarianism is deepening in non-democratic regimes” and “2020 was the worst on record, in terms of the number of countries affected by deepening autocratization.”

International IDEA said the number of democracies that are falling behind in democratic rule has doubled in the past decade, and noted the particular problems with democracy in the United States, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia.

“The pandemic broadened the pre-existing rift between high-performing democracies in Western Europe and weaker counterparts in Central and Eastern Europe,” said Sam Van Der Staak, head of Program Regional Europe, when commenting on the study’s findings, according to the AP. 

International IDEA’s report was unveiled as President Biden prepares for the Dec. 9-10 virtual “summit for democracy” that seeks to embolden democratic rule throughout the world.