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The Economist Intelligence Unit of the Economist Group has published the 2017 report on the study presenting the Democracy Index. The study was first conducted in 2006.

The index combines 60 indicators that refer to 5 wide categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture and civil liberties.

The analysis published in 2018 indicates that less than 5% of the world population lives in full democracies. Nearly one third lives under authoritarian rule. Overall, the index of 89 of 167 countries deteriorated in 2017. And Armenia’s index has improved this year.

Eastern Partnership countries Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine are also considered to be hybrid regimes. However, they are ranked 78, 79 and 83 respectively. Belarus and Azerbaijan, the other two states of the Eastern Partnership, are considered to be authoritarian and are ranked 138 and 148 respectively. The Russian Federation is also among the authoritarian regimes, ranked 135.

According to the study, Armenia is ranked 111 among 167 countries and is considered to be a hybrid regime. In the ranking Armenia is followed by Iraq, Gambia, Haiti and Mozambique, after which the authoritarian states are presented. In regard to Armenia, the state of political culture was estimated at 1.88 points, and the functioning of the government was estimated at 2.88, which were the two lowest scores for Armenia, while the highest ones were those of civil liberties (5.59) and the electoral process and pluralism (5.25).

The study of the results of Democracy Index indicates that the indicators referring to Armenia have hardly changed throughout years, and the changes have mainly been negative. In 2016 Armenia was classified as an authoritarian country because of the dramatic decrease in the indicator of political culture. In 2017 the index recorded some improvement in terms of electoral process and political participation, which is the result of the transition to the parliamentary system of government through constitutional changes. Instead, the indicator of civil liberties decreased.

Nevertheless, it is obvious from the general trends in the changes of the index that no effective steps are being taken in the direction of improving the state of democracy in the Republic of Armenia, and that the country is on the border of authoritarianism.

The material has been prepared by Democracy Monitoring and Reporting Coordinator of HCA Vanadzor V. Grigoryan.

Source: Democracy Index 2017