America Latina: retrocessos da democracia

O Economist Intelligence Unit, unidade de pesquisa e análise do grupo que edita a revista The Economist, acaba de publicar o:

Democracy index 2010: Democracy in retreat

Nesse relatório se constata, infelizmente, recuos democráticos ao redor do mundo e particularmente na América Latina, inclusive no Brasil, em função do crescimento do poder do Estado e de sua capacidade de intervenção na economia e no controle dos meios de comunicação.
O caso mais dramático na região é, sem dúvida alguma, o da Venezuela, ainda não identificada com o tipo de regime cubano -- caracterizado como autoritário, junto com a China e outros -- mas já integrando, numa escala bem baixo, o grupo dos regimes híbridos, que são aqueles que combinam elementos dos regimes autoritários junto com os de democracia deficiente, grupo no qual, aliás, se encontra o Brasil.
O Brasil, acreditem ou não, recuou desde 2008, passando do lugar 41 (sobre 167) para o 47, o que se explica, certamente, pelos avanços do governo sobre os meios de comunicação e sobre atividades econômicas de modo geral.
Comparado com o primeiro da lista -- Noruega -- e com o último da lista, exatamente número 167 -- que é, sem surpresa, a Coreia do Norte -- o Brasil parece estar bem, mas é superado por Uruguai e Costa Rica, as duas únicas democracias plenas na região.
Comparado a nossos "colegas" do BRIC, perdemos para a Índia (com o score de 40), mas ganhamos da Rússia (score 107) e certamente da China (com 136).
Onde o Brasil perde feio é na "cultura política" -- apenas 4,38 pontos sobre 10 possíveis -- mas ganhamos em processo eleitoral e pluralismo (9,58).

Democracy index, 2010, by regime type
             No. of countries - % of countries - % of world population
Full democracies 26 - 15,6 - 12,3
Flawed democracies 53  -  31,7 - 37,2
Hybrid regimes 33  - 19,8  - 14
Authoritarian regimes  55  -  32,9  - 36,5

Na Europa ocidental, vejam que surpresa: França e Itália cairam do grupo das democracias plenas (apenas 26) para o das democracias deficientes, sendo que a França recuou vários pontos sob o presidente Sarkozy (de 24 a 31) e a Itália permaneceu estável nas suas deficiências sob Berlusconi (score 29).
O quadro geral é preocupante segundo o relatório...
Paulo Roberto de Almeida

Aqui a palavra do editor da The Economist:
The world has become less democratic in the past two years. That is the sad finding of the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2010 Democracy Index, covering 167 countries. As our ViewsWire service explains, political freedoms have been eroded in many countries since the last index in 2008. The global financial crisis has been a contributing factor, undermining public faith in government and tempting politicians to muzzle criticism. In addition to this week's featured article, the full 43–page report is available free of charge. If you are a registered EIU.com user, please download it from www.eiu.com. If you do not already have login details for EIU.com, you can still access the report following the completion of a simple registration form.

Abaixo, um resumo do relatório preparado pelo cientista político David Fleischer:

Brazil ranked 47^th on The Economist’s “Democracy Index”

In an article titled “Democracy in Retreat” published by The Economist on 13^th December, Brazil dropped from 41^st rank in 208 to 47^th in 2010 – and was listed as a “flawed democracy” along with 52 other countries (including France and Italy).  Brazil’s score declined from 7.38 to 7.12 on a zero-to-ten scale.  Only 26 of the 167 nations evaluated were considered “full democracies”.  The other two types are “hybrid regimes” and “authoritarian regimes”.  This Index used 60 indicators grouped into FIVE categories to develop this evaluation – 1) electoral process and pluralism; 2) civil liberties; 3) government functioning; 4) political participation; and 5) political culture. 

Global backsliding 2008-2010 – Four European nations dropped from the category of “full democracy” to “flawed democracy”: France, Italy, Greece and Slovenia.  Between 2006 (the first year of the index) and 2008 there was “stagnation”, but between 20008 and 2010 there was outright decline.  The Economist attributes this decline to the world economic crisis.  The 2010 Democracy Score was lower in 91 countries, while the score increased (better rating) for 48 nations, and remained the same in 28.  There was a change in regime type in 13 countries and 11 of the latter regressed.   

Highlights:

·      Sweden dropped from 1^st to 4^th rank and Norway is now 1^st rank;

·      “Media freedom” declined in 36 countries;

·      In France, public confidence in political institutions is extremely low;

·      The most pronounced decline was in Eastern Europe, where 19 nations declined;

·      The US and UK are both near the bottom limit in the “full democracy” category;

·      US – erosion of civil liberties and gov’t. functioning

·      UK – problem of low levels of political participation

·      Nearly one-half (79) the countries are considered “democracies”;

·      26 “full democracies”

·      53 “flawed democracies”

·      33 “hybrid regimes”

·      55 “authoritarian regimes”

In Latin America, Uruguay was 21^st and Costa Rica was 24^th (“full democracies”); Chile was 34^th, and Panama was 46^th (better than Brazil), while Mexico was 50^th, Argentina was 51^st, Colombia was 57^th, Paraguay and Peru were 62^nd, and Guatemala 75^th (“flawed democracies”).  Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Venezuela were considered “hybrid regimes”. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index