Freedom House has just released a special report titled, The Worst of the Worst 2011: The World’s Most Repressive Societies. The special report is designed to be a companion to Freedom House’s famous annual survey of political liberties worldwide Freedom in the World, the 2011 edition of which was released in January.
The purpose of this special report is to give special attention to the most repressive regimes in the world. Nine countries make the list of least-free: Burma, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, as well as one territory, Tibet. Eight other countries-Belarus, Chad, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Laos, Saudi Arabia, and Syria- and two other territories- South Ossetia and Western Sahara- are also highlighted for falling just short of the bottom of the list in terms of restrictions on freedoms.
The report gives particular harsh treatment to North Korea noting that, “only one country, North Korea, has been at the bottom of the ratings scale every year since the Freedom in the World survey began nearly 40 years ago.” If you’re wondering how North Korean leader Kim Jong-il holds onto power, Daniel Byman and Jennifer Lind had an excellent article on the subject in the Summer 2010 issue of International Security.
More generally, the report goes on to note that, “the last five years have featured an overall decline in global respect for the values of liberal democracy: multiparty elections, the rule of law, freedom of association, freedom of speech, the rights of minorities, and other fundamental, universal human rights.” Perhaps the Arab Awakening will reverse this trend, although this remains to be seen.
The full report can be read here (pdf.)
Comments