0.900–1.000 0.800–0.899 0.700–0.799 0.600–0.699 | 0.500–0.599 0.400–0.499 0.300–0.399 0.200–0.299 | 0.100–0.199 0.000–0.099 No data |
Democracy in Europe can be comparatively assessed [1] according to various definitions of democracy. [2] According to the V-Dem Democracy Indices, the European countries with the highest democracy scores in 2023 are Denmark, Norway and Sweden, meanwhile the European countries with lowest democracy scores in 2023 are Belarus, Russia and Turkey. [3]
After the fall of Communism most countries in Central and Eastern Europe either democratized or re-democratized. [4] Some democratic backsliding can be observed in parts of Europe, including Hungary and Poland. [5] [6] The V-Dem Democracy Report identified for the year 2023 Montenegro and Kosovo as cases of stand-alone democratization and North Macedonia as a case of U-Turn democratization, while Poland as a small but statistically insignificant uptick in liberal democracy index. [7] Some view European democracies have become more consensual and less majoritarian over time. [8] Increased importance of constitutionalism has been claimed. [9]
The table below shows European countries scored on 2 high-level V-Dem Democracy indices and 4 mid-level Democracy Component indices evaluating the state of democracy in year 2023 which were published in 2024. [10] [11] [12]
| Country | Democracy Indices | Democracy Component Indices | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral | Liberal | Liberal | Egalitarian | Participatory | Deliberative | |
 Denmark | 0.915 | 0.883 | 0.977 | 0.972 | 0.716 | 0.967 |
 Ireland | 0.896 | 0.831 | 0.933 | 0.875 | 0.634 | 0.905 |
 Estonia | 0.895 | 0.845 | 0.955 | 0.887 | 0.638 | 0.85 |
 Belgium | 0.895 | 0.814 | 0.909 | 0.931 | 0.648 | 0.91 |
 Switzerland | 0.89 | 0.844 | 0.962 | 0.931 | 0.882 | 0.98 |
 Norway | 0.886 | 0.836 | 0.955 | 0.961 | 0.655 | 0.988 |
 Sweden | 0.884 | 0.852 | 0.98 | 0.903 | 0.651 | 0.905 |
 Luxembourg | 0.878 | 0.798 | 0.91 | 0.939 | 0.578 | 0.975 |
 France | 0.877 | 0.81 | 0.93 | 0.811 | 0.632 | 0.939 |
 Czech Republic | 0.871 | 0.805 | 0.933 | 0.913 | 0.585 | 0.88 |
 Finland | 0.86 | 0.82 | 0.972 | 0.896 | 0.637 | 0.942 |
 Germany | 0.856 | 0.812 | 0.967 | 0.941 | 0.662 | 0.976 |
 Netherlands | 0.854 | 0.8 | 0.951 | 0.891 | 0.62 | 0.943 |
 United Kingdom | 0.852 | 0.772 | 0.914 | 0.81 | 0.66 | 0.843 |
 Latvia | 0.852 | 0.768 | 0.908 | 0.862 | 0.674 | 0.825 |
 Portugal | 0.845 | 0.751 | 0.887 | 0.795 | 0.611 | 0.872 |
 Austria | 0.844 | 0.773 | 0.926 | 0.893 | 0.65 | 0.827 |
 Spain | 0.843 | 0.757 | 0.902 | 0.841 | 0.645 | 0.828 |
 Italy | 0.837 | 0.757 | 0.911 | 0.904 | 0.747 | 0.911 |
 Iceland | 0.834 | 0.744 | 0.896 | 0.87 | 0.659 | 0.845 |
 Slovakia | 0.823 | 0.739 | 0.909 | 0.792 | 0.686 | 0.583 |
 Lithuania | 0.798 | 0.735 | 0.938 | 0.868 | 0.692 | 0.822 |
 Malta | 0.779 | 0.64 | 0.807 | 0.894 | 0.653 | 0.803 |
 Cyprus | 0.774 | 0.636 | 0.817 | 0.869 | 0.574 | 0.837 |
 Slovenia | 0.758 | 0.653 | 0.864 | 0.884 | 0.71 | 0.867 |
 Greece | 0.751 | 0.582 | 0.752 | 0.835 | 0.641 | 0.868 |
 Croatia | 0.733 | 0.639 | 0.879 | 0.768 | 0.625 | 0.68 |
 Moldova | 0.713 | 0.608 | 0.86 | 0.8 | 0.665 | 0.93 |
 Kosovo | 0.674 | 0.494 | 0.702 | 0.685 | 0.524 | 0.6 |
 Romania | 0.669 | 0.501 | 0.72 | 0.674 | 0.657 | 0.35 |
 Bulgaria | 0.666 | 0.588 | 0.898 | 0.76 | 0.663 | 0.914 |
 Armenia | 0.634 | 0.422 | 0.611 | 0.811 | 0.442 | 0.69 |
 Georgia | 0.604 | 0.473 | 0.761 | 0.784 | 0.542 | 0.803 |
 Poland | 0.588 | 0.444 | 0.729 | 0.877 | 0.555 | 0.719 |
 Montenegro | 0.581 | 0.467 | 0.785 | 0.771 | 0.561 | 0.759 |
 North Macedonia | 0.56 | 0.359 | 0.584 | 0.598 | 0.61 | 0.64 |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0.512 | 0.346 | 0.616 | 0.655 | 0.527 | 0.678 |
 Albania | 0.51 | 0.402 | 0.75 | 0.706 | 0.555 | 0.444 |
 Hungary | 0.44 | 0.325 | 0.668 | 0.631 | 0.571 | 0.361 |
 Ukraine | 0.415 | 0.249 | 0.5 | 0.654 | 0.58 | 0.761 |
 Serbia | 0.364 | 0.253 | 0.579 | 0.747 | 0.55 | 0.486 |
 Turkey | 0.287 | 0.113 | 0.245 | 0.53 | 0.416 | 0.195 |
 Russia | 0.19 | 0.062 | 0.151 | 0.396 | 0.379 | 0.2 |
 Belarus | 0.157 | 0.036 | 0.082 | 0.734 | 0.161 | 0.044 |
Democracy is a system of government in which state power is vested in the people or the general population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitive elections while more expansive definitions link democracy to guarantees of civil liberties and human rights in addition to competitive elections.
The politics of Indonesia take place in the framework of a presidential representative democratic republic whereby the President of Indonesia is both head of state and head of government and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the bicameral People's Consultative Assembly. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction.
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The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nations, a play on the term Spring of Nations that is sometimes used to describe the Revolutions of 1848 in Europe. It may have contributed to the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union—the world's largest Marxist–Leninist state—and the abandonment of communist regimes in many parts of the world, some of which were violently overthrown. The events, especially the fall of the Soviet Union, drastically altered the world's balance of power, marking the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the post-Cold War era.
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A democratic transition describes a phase in a countries political system as a result of an ongoing change from an authoritarian regime to a democratic one. The process is known as democratisation, political changes moving in a democratic direction. Democratization waves have been linked to sudden shifts in the distribution of power among the great powers, which created openings and incentives to introduce sweeping domestic reforms. Although transitional regimes experience more civil unrest, they may be considered stable in a transitional phase for decades at a time. Since the end of the Cold War transitional regimes have become the most common form of government. Scholarly analysis of the decorative nature of democratic institutions concludes that the opposite democratic backsliding (autocratization), a transition to authoritarianism is the most prevalent basis of modern hybrid regimes.
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A hybrid regime is a type of political system often created as a result of an incomplete democratic transition from an authoritarian regime to a democratic one. Hybrid regimes are categorized as having a combination of autocratic features with democratic ones and can simultaneously hold political repressions and regular elections. Hybrid regimes are commonly found in developing countries with abundant natural resources such as petro-states. Although these regimes experience civil unrest, they may be relatively stable and tenacious for decades at a time. There has been a rise in hybrid regimes since the end of the Cold War.
Democratic backsliding is a process of regime change towards autocracy that makes the exercise of political power by the public more arbitrary and repressive. This process typically restricts the space for public contestation and political participation in the process of government selection. Democratic decline involves the weakening of democratic institutions, such as the peaceful transition of power or free and fair elections, or the violation of individual rights that underpin democracies, especially freedom of expression. Democratic backsliding is the opposite of democratization.
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