Freedom House concluded that in 2020 authoritarian actors became more emboldened as the largest democracies grappled with domestic problems, resulting in a 15th consecutive year of decline in world freedom. Freedom House released its 2021 annual Freedom in the World report, according to which the gap between declines and improvements in the level of freedom widened. According to the report, Kosovo has dropped by two points, while Albania by one.
According to the Freedom House report, the Balkans are among the regions that have declined, but have also made some progress. Albania and Kosovo continue to remain partially free, and have fallen by one point and two points respectively.
Kosovo suffered a two-point drop from a total of 56 to 54, attributed to the decline in the categories of electoral process and political pluralism.
"This was about approving Prime Minister Hoti's government by a one-vote majority of a lawmaker who had been convicted," said Amy Slipowitz, co-author of the report and research manager at Freedom House.
The irregularity of this process brought down.
"It was also the fall in the category for the opposition because the political old guard orchestrated the fall of the government of Albin Kurti of the Vetëvendosje party," said Slipowitz.
Albania from 67 points last year, has 66 points this year with a drop in the category of rights of collection and organization, related to two events.
"We saw a decline in freedom of assembly, due to violence between protesters and security forces in May, during the demolition of the National Theater building. Another reason for concern was when in December the police killed a citizen who had violated the curfew order. These contributed to the decline in the freedom of assembly category," said report co-author Amy Slipowitz.
Despite the decline of the region, Montenegro and North Macedonia have recorded growth, even by 3 points more than last year, North Macedonia is one of the countries mentioned for significant growth in the report.
"The reformist government of Northern Macedonia was re-elected and its institutions have largely recovered from the damage caused by former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski," the report said.
Freedom in the United States fell three points and has fallen 11 points in the past decade, a deep decline that now puts the country closer to countries with weak institutions like Romania and Panama.
The biggest damage to American democracy, says Repucci, was President Trump's efforts to subvert the will of American voters and his baseless claims of election fraud.
Citing the events of January 6 as an example, experts from the Freedom House organization, which has measured the level of freedom in the world for decades, say that propagandists around the world use this very argument against democratic countries.
"President Biden's administration must prioritize the consolidation of democracy, we must repair long-term weaknesses and not focus on short-term solutions," says Repucci.
However scholars note that the fact that the judicial system functioned showed the strength of democracy.
Freedom House cites as one of the main concerns China's role in both concealing the extent of the pandemic and in trying to expand its influence in the world.
Despite the decline in the level of freedom, Freedom House concludes that democracy in many parts of the world continued to show its regenerative capacity, as protests in countries such as Malawi, Myanmar and Russia have shown. \ Voa