Freedom House on March 4 put out its annual report on the state of democracy and freedom around the world. The news is mostly bleak. “The countries experiencing deterioration [in freedom] outnumbered those with improvements by the largest margin recorded since the negative trend began in 2006. The long democratic recession is deepening.” The extent of the decline is eye-popping (“Nearly 75 percent of the world’s population lived in a country that faced deterioration last year”). That decline bolsters illiberal regimes’ arguments that democracy is inferior and unable to meet the needs of its people.
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Jennifer Rubin: It is not hard to figure out why freedom is in decline
(FILES) In this file photo taken on Feb. 19, 2021 Artyom Sorokin, a doctor, who is accused of releasing the protester's medical information to the media, sits inside a defendant's cage during a trial in Minsk.
