In its latest report, the American NGO Freedom House speaks of an overall deterioration of democracy worldwide, albeit with a small… note of optimism. The gap between the number of countries that improved or otherwise reduced individual rights and freedoms in 2022, he points out, was the smallest ever reported in a 17-year continuous anti-democratic slide.
For example, the “Democracy Index” in the Economist Research and Analysis Division’s (EIU) latest annual report for 2022 shows that less than half of the world’s population (45.3%) now lives in some form of democracy. Just 8% live in “full democracies”. A total of 24 countries are classified as such (+3 from 2021). These do not include the US.
They are instead ranked in the next category of so-called “incomplete democracies”, which correspond to 37.3% of the world’s population.
Two standards
The scene has changed drastically since the first Summit for Democracy organized by Biden in December 2021. The world was then emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic and Washington was seeking – after the “debacle” of the Trump presidency – to restore the its international leading role.
But at the end of a year in which the US had experienced a shock invasion of Capitol Hill, that first session had little tangible results – many say none – beyond perhaps advancing the US foreign policy agenda.
Critics of the initiative emphasize that the second, ongoing session essentially demonstrates not only the stagnation, but also the hypocrisy of the Biden policy in defending and promoting the principles of democracy and human rights.
In support, they “point” to the controversial list of 121 countries invited to the summit – eight for the first time. These include several that are considered critical US allies but are in democratic backsliding.
It’s not just Israel – where the Netanyahu government is planning to shake up the judiciary, while the prime minister himself is on trial for corruption – or Poland, where the US has just inaugurated the first permanent military garrison as part of NATO’s eastern flank reinforcement. against Russia.
It is also the ambivalent foreign policy India, which the US has so far tried in vain to persuade to join Moscow’s isolation front. This, while turning a blind eye even to the recent expulsion of opposition leader Rahul Gandhi from parliament: the latest disturbing piece of political writing by nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Also invited are countries such as Pakistan, where former Prime Minister Imran Khan – ousted last year as he sought closer ties with Russia and China – was assassinated and now faces charges of “terrorism” and “corruption ».
Separating lines
On the other hand, the two unruly NATO allies, Hungary and Turkey, were left out of the list – and rightly so, in terms of disrespecting democratic values.
Also on the “blacklist” is Saudi Arabia, a country that Biden promised to make a “pariah” but finally visited last summer with much fanfare, in a vain search for consensus on increasing oil production.
The same applies to Egypt, just four months after the American president had met in Sharm el-Sheikh with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, then praising Cairo for its condemnation of the Ukraine war.
The invitee list instead includes several other African states – with “maiden” participation for Ivory Coast, Gambia, Mauritania, Mozambique and Tanzania – as the US attempts to regain lost ground in Africa in the face of its geopolitical expansion. China and Russia.
President Biden is trying to “push back China’s offer” for ever-closer economic cooperation, “arguing that, for a good economy, the principles of democracy are necessary,” observes analyst Andrew Cheetham of the US Federal Institute of Peace. (USIP).
Due to multilateralism, the White House invited the leaders of four countries – the Netherlands, South Korea, Zambia and Costa Rica – from as many continents as co-organizers of this year’s summit.
However, just as it happened in 2021, the summit is also now receiving a barrage of criticism as a “vehicle” for serving Washington’s strategic interests, rather than supporting the Republic.
Drawing on examples from the recent past, analyst Christopher Erdanes-Roy of the Center for Strategic and International Studies was even sharper in his criticism.
“The Biden administration,” he commented, “has come to the point of negotiating with one dictator to deal with another.”
