Recent political events have shown that the present state structure In Pakistan is deeply flawed. With dwindling press freedom and flagrant violation of democratic norms, Pakistani society is caught up in an endless cycle of crises. The government cracks down on journalists who criticize its working and no quarter is given to the opposition to play its role as is the norm in a normal democratic set-up.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that Pakistan has been assigned an extremely low position in the latest Democracy Index published by the Economic Intelligence Unit. According to the index, the state of democracy in Pakistan has deteriorated to a level where it is placed just above countries described as authoritarian. In the index Pakistan has a cumulative score of 4.13 out of 10 and fell three places in the 167 country-ranking to occupy 107th place. It should be a matter of concern for the major stakeholders in Pakistan that the country is in the same category as countries like Cote d’Ivoire (106th place) and Mauritania (108th place), all of whom were listed as “hybrid regimes”.

The Democracy Index is based on five pillars: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. For the five categories, Pakistan scored 5.67 for electoral process and pluralism, 5 for functioning of government, 2.78 for political participation, 2.5 for political culture and 4.71 for civil liberties.

The Democracy Index was launched by The Economist in 2006 to assess the state of democracy in165 countries, covering the vast majority of the world’s population. Based on its scores on a range of indicators within these categories, each country is classified as one of four types of regime: “full democracy”, “flawed democracy”, “hybrid regime” or “authoritarian regime”.

According the Economist report, only 24 countries, or around 14.4% of all countries comprising just eight percent of the world’s population, live in countries that can be identified as “full democracies”. The top three spots in the index are occupied by Norway, New Zealand and Iceland. They are followed by Sweden and Finland. These countries had cumulative scores of 9.29 and above. Canada has a score of 8.88. The United Kingdom came in at 18 with a score of 8.28, while the United States was listed among ‘flawed democracies’, ranking at 30 with a score of 7.85.

Full democracies are those countries in which not only basic political freedoms and civil liberties are respected, but which also boast a political culture conducive to the flourishing of democracy. In a full democracy, the government functions for the benefit of its citizens, the media is independent and diverse, and there is an effective system of checks and balances. In a functional democracy, the judiciary is independent and judicial decisions are implemented by the executive. The index shows that the number of “full democracies” (those scoring more than 8.00 out of 10) increased to 24 in 2022, up from 21 in 2021, as Chile, France and Spain re-joined the top-ranked countries

The next category comprises 48 ‘flawed democracies’ numbering around 28.7% of all countries and representing 37.3% of the world’s population. Flawed democracies are those countries where free and fair elections are held and basic civil liberties are respected. But flawed democracies suffer from many ills such as weak governance, an underdeveloped political culture and low levels of political participation. The number of “flawed democracies” fell by five year on year to 48 in 2022.

Hybrid regimes are not democracies, but they are not full blown authoritarian states either. There are 36 countries in this category, including Pakistan. Hybrid regimes make up around 21.6% of countries and represent 17.9% of the global population. In hybrid regimes, elections are marred by irregularities and arenot free and fair. Government pressure on opposition parties is common. These regimes suffer from serious weaknesses with regard to political culture, functioning of government and political participation. Corruption is widespread and the rule of law is weak. Harassment of journalists is common, and the judiciary is not independent. Around 36 countries are classified as hybrid regimes.

The Democracy Index classifies 59 countries as authoritarian regimes, comprising around 36.9% of the global population. Many countries in this category are outright dictatorships.  Elections, if held, are not free and fair and civil liberties are drastically curtailed. The media is either state-owned or controlled by groups connected to the ruling regime. Criticism of the government is not tolerated, and the judiciary is not independent.

Needless to say, a marked feature of Pakistan’s weak democratic culture is declining press freedom. This is proved by the latest edition of the World Press Freedom Index which places Pakistan at 157 out of i80 countries surveyed. In 2021, Pakistan was ranked 145 on the list of the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontiers which assesses the state of journalism in 180 countries. The indicators used by RSF are based on a quantitative survey of press freedom violations and abuses against journalists and media, along with questionnaire responses from hundreds of press freedom experts.

According to the RSF, ever since its establishment in 1947, Pakistan has witnessed civil society’s quest for greater press freedom and the ruling elite’s constant tightening of control over the media. The RSF says that Pakistan is one of the world’s deadliest countries for journalists, with three to four murders each year that go unpunished. Any journalist who crosses ‘the red lines’ is liable to be the target of surveillance that could lead to abduction and detention for varying lengths of time in jail. Under the guise of upholding civil order, Pakistani law is used to censor any criticism of the government and other state institutions.