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Freedom deficit is a term coined by a group of Arab scholars for the UNDP Arab Human Development Report in 2002. As defined in the report, a freedom deficit exists when there is "a substantial lag between Arab countries and other regions in terms of participatory government," where "freedom" is thus synonymous with "democracy." [1]
A measure of the freedom deficit is calculated by assessing political participation and accountability, freedom of expression and political corruption. The 2002 Arab Human Development Report attempted to account for the fact that the Arab region does poorly on the Human Development Index, yet does not suffer the same economic woes of similar nations. These scholars posited three deficits: freedom, women's empowerment, and knowledge.
Since 2002, the term has been used by politicians and pundits alike. Shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, US Defense undersecretary Douglas J. Feith noted that once free of Saddam Hussein, Iraq would no longer suffer from a freedom deficit. [2] US President George W. Bush acknowledged the role of Western nations in contributing to the freedom deficit in the Middle East. [3] The conservative American Enterprise Institute issued a commentary in 2004 defending the War on Terrorism as being crucial to ending the freedom deficit. [4] United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice used the term in December 2006 during a press conference on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict to describe the "core problem" of the Middle East. [5]
Beyond the Middle East, libertarian blogger John Pugsley applied the term to China, noting that the US/China trade deficit is really a result of a freedom deficit in China.
Freedom House is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. It is best known for political advocacy surrounding issues of democracy, political freedom, and human rights. Freedom House was founded in October 1941, with Wendell Willkie and Eleanor Roosevelt serving as its first honorary chairpersons. Most of the organization's funding comes from the U.S. State Department and other government grants. It also receives funds from various semi-public and private foundations, as well as individual contributions.
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Paul Dundes Wolfowitz is an American political scientist and diplomat who served as the 10th President of the World Bank, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, and dean of Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. He is currently a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
Neoconservatism is a political movement that began in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1960s during the Vietnam War among foreign policy hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and counterculture of the 1960s. Neoconservatives typically advocate the unilateral promotion of democracy and interventionism in international affairs, grounded in a militaristic and realist philosophy of "peace through strength." They are known for espousing opposition to communism and political radicalism.
Adnan al-Pachachi or Adnan Muzahim Ameen al-Pachachi was a veteran Iraqi and Emirati politician and diplomat. Pachachi was Iraq's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1959 to 1965 and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq from 1965 to 1967, during the Six-Day War with Israel; he again served as Permanent Representative to the UN from 1967 to 1969. After 1971, he left Iraq in exile and became an Emirati Minister of State and political advisor to United Arab Emirates president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, Pachachi was an important figure in Iraqi politics, often described as Iraq's elder statesman. He rejected the role of president in the Iraqi Interim Government.
Kenneth Michael Pollack is an American former CIA intelligence analyst and expert on Middle East politics and military affairs. He has served on the National Security Council staff and has written several articles and books on international relations. Currently, he is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, "where he works on Middle Eastern political-military affairs, focusing in particular on Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf countries. Before that he was Senior Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution and a senior advisor at Albright Stonebridge Group, a global business strategy firm.
Rend al-Rahim Francke is an Iraqi political activist who often appears on various current affairs programs. She held the position as Iraqi ambassador to the United States. She is considered to be a secularist trying to enable Iraq to transition to a liberal democratic model.
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The state of Democracy in Middle East and North Africa can be comparatively assessed according to various definitions of democracy. According to The Economist Group's Democracy Index 2023 study, Israel is the only democratic country in the region, qualified as a "flawed democracy". According to the V-Dem Democracy indices, the Middle Eastern and North African countries with the highest scores in 2024 are Israel, Tunisia and Iraq.
The Arab Human Development Report (AHDR) is an independent report sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), providing leading Arab scholars a platform through which to analyze the challenges and opportunities for human development in the Arab Region. UNDP's Arab Human Development Report Project maintains a website on which copies of the Reports are available for download in the Arabic, English and French languages.
There are various rationales for the Iraq War, both the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the subsequent hostilities. The George W. Bush administration began actively pressing for military intervention in Iraq in late 2001. The primary rationalization for the Iraq War was articulated by a joint resolution of the United States Congress known as the Iraq Resolution. The US claimed the intent was to "disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people".
Michael Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He previously worked as an official at the Pentagon, where he dealt with issues relating to the Middle East, and as political adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority. He writes frequently on issues relating to the Middle East, South Asia, Africa, Taiwan, and American diplomacy.
The Human Development Report (HDR) is an annual Human Development Index report published by the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Anthony H. Cordesman was an American national security analyst. He held the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and was a national security analyst on a number of global conflicts.
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is a global military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks and is the most recent global conflict spanning multiple wars. Some researchers and political scientists have argued that it replaced the Cold War.
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The U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) is a United States State Department program that fosters meaningful and effective partnerships between citizens, civil society, the private sector, and governments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to resolve local challenges and promote shared interests in the areas of participatory governance and economic opportunity and reform.
Democracy promotion by the United States aims to encourage governmental and non-governmental actors to pursue political reforms that will lead ultimately to democratic governance.
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