In January 2013, the Freedom House organization released its
latest annual report on democracy around the world. It found a slight decline
in political rights and civil liberties around the world. The Middle East was a
special focus because of the Arab Spring. When it came to Iraq, the country saw
a decline in its ranking due to the policies of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Each year Freedom House ranks countries and territories
around the world on their political systems. Each country is graded according to two main categories, political rights and civil liberties, which include
electoral processes, political pluralism and participation, governance, freedom
of expression and belief, freedom of assembly, rule of law, and civil
liberties. Each country is then given two scores on rights and freedoms
with 1 being the most free, and 7 being the least. Those are averaged out for
their overall rank. According to those points, countries are then placed within
three broad groups. First, are Free nations where there is political
competition, civil liberties are protected, there is an absence of civil
strife, and an independent media. Second, are Partly Free countries that have
limited respect for political rights and freedoms, corruption is commonplace,
there is weak rule of law, ethnosectarian strife, and usually a single partly
dominates the government. Finally, there are Not Free nations where there are
no political rights and liberties are denied.
In its 2013 report, the world took a step back from
democratic practices. 16 countries made progress on democracy, while 28 had
declines. The number of countries ranked Free increased by three for a total of
90. That included 46% of the nations and territories included in the study.
There were 58 Partly Free countries, which was 30% of the total. Finally, there
were 47 nations that were Not Free that constituted the final 24%. Despite the
problems noted in the report, a plurality of the world lived in democratic
societies. That was a large increase from previous decades when Free countries
were a minority.
The mixed trends in governance around the world were seen in
the Middle East and North Africa. There were two trends in the region. First,
because of the Arab Spring there was public pressure to change the autocratic
ways of many of the governments there. On the other hand, many countries
responded with increased authoritarian practices, and sometimes the use of
force to repress their populations. Overall, Freedom House gave the Middle East
and North Africa the worst ranking of the six regions it broke the world into.
There were one Free country, six Partly Free, and eleven Not Free nations. Only
Israel, Libya, and Tunisia were considered electoral democracies. Those last
two plus Egypt were seen as having the greatest progress on political freedoms
after the revolutions that occurred there. Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman,
the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Syria on the other hand saw declines. This
was especially true for Syria where the government is embroiled in a civil war,
and the Gulf States. Kuwait, Oman, the UAE, and Bahrain for example, all
attempted to undermine the political opposition and those calling for change.
Saudi Arabia sent its army to neighboring Bahrain to help suppress
demonstrations there. Finally, Iraq’s ranking went down, because of Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s concentration of power in his hands, and his attacks
upon the opposition such as the arrest warrant for Vice President Tariq
al-Hashemi. As a result, its political rights rank dropped from 5 to 6.
Despite, the changes that were seen throughout the region in 2012, it is still
considered the least free part of the world with autocracies and monarchies
firmly in power in the majority of countries. Iraq, despite its several
elections since sovereignty was returned in 2005, has actually seen its ranking
decline from a 5.5 in 2012 to a 6 in 2013, because of its continued
political conflicts, and low-level violence. Still, it is obviously doing
better than under Saddam Hussein’s time, when Iraq was considered one of the
seven worst countries in the world according to Freedom House. At the same time, political change there seems to have stalled.
2013 Freedom House
Rankings Of The Middle East-North Africa
Israel: Free, Freedom Rating: 1.5, Political Rights: 1,
Civil Liberties: 2, electoral democracy
Tunisia: Partly Free, Freedom Rating: 3.5, Political Rights:
3, Civil Liberties: 4, electoral democracy
Kuwait: Partly Free, Freedom Rating: 4.5, Political Rights:
5, Civil Liberties: 4
Lebanon: Partly Free, Freedom Rating: 4.5, Political Rights:
5, Civil Liberties: 4
Libya: Partly Free, Freedom Rating: 4.5, Political Rights:
4, Civil Liberties: 5, electoral democracy
Morocco: Partly Free, Freedom Rating: 4.5, Political Rights:
5, Civil Liberties: 4
Egypt: Partly Free, Freedom Rating: 5, Political Rights: 5,
Civil Liberties: 5
Oman: Not Free, Freedom Rating: 5.5, Political Rights: 6,
Civil Liberties: 5
Qatar: Not Free, Freedom Rating: 5.5, Political Rights: 6,
Civil Liberties: 5
West Bank: Not Free, Freedom Rating: 5.5, Political Rights:
6, Civil Liberties: 5
Bahrain: Not Free, Freedom Rating: 6, Political Rights: 6,
Civil Liberties: 6
Gaza Strip: Not Free, Freedom Rating: 6, Political Rights:
6, Civil Liberties: 6
Iran: Not Free, Freedom Rating: 6, Political Rights: 6,
Civil Liberties: 6
Iraq: Not Free, Freedom Rating: 6, Political Rights: 6, Civil
Liberties: 6
United Arab Emirates: Not Free, Freedom Rating: 6, Political
Rights: 6, Civil Liberties: 6
Yemen: Not Free, Freedom Rating: 6, Political Rights: 6,
Civil Liberties: 6
Saudi Arabia: Not Free, Freedom Rating: 7, Political Rights:
7, Civil Liberties: 7
Syria: Not Free, Freedom Rating: 7, Political Rights: 7,
Civil Liberties: 7
Iraq’s Freedom House
Ranking, 2003-2013
2003: Freedom Rating: 7, Political Rights: 7, Civil
Liberties: 7
2004: Freedom Rating: 6, Political Rights: 7, Civil
Liberties: 5
2005: Freedom Rating: 6, Political Rights: 7, Civil
Liberties: 5
2006: Freedom Rating: 5.5, Political Rights: 6, Civil
Liberties: 5
2007: Freedom Rating: 6, Political Rights: 6, Civil
Liberties: 6
2008: Freedom Rating: 6, Political Rights: 6, Civil
Liberties: 6
2009: Freedom Rating: 6, Political Rights: 6, Civil
Liberties: 6
2010: Freedom Rating: 5.5, Political Rights: 5, Civil
Liberties: 6
2011: Freedom Rating: 5.5, Political Rights: 5, Civil
Liberties: 6
2012: Freedom Rating: 5.5, Political Rights: 5, Civil
Liberties: 6
2013: Freedom Rating: 6, Political Rights: 6, Civil
Liberties: 6
SOURCES
Freedom House, “Freedom in the World 2003,” 2003
- “Freedom in the World 2004,” 2004
- “Freedom in the World 2005,” 2005
- “Freedom in the World 2006,” 2006
- “Freedom in the World 2007,” 2007
- “Freedom in the World 2008,” 2008
- “Freedom in the World 2009,” 2009
- “Freedom in the World 2010,” 2010
- “Freedom in the World 2011,” 2011
- “Freedom in the World 2012,” 2012
- “Freedom in the World 2013, Democratic Breakthroughs In
The Balance,” January 2013
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