许多国家的民主评级下降

 

The United States-based group Freedom House says democracy dropped in more than half of the countries it studied last year.

Freedom House rated the health of democracy in 29 countries in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in Central Asia. All 29 were once under Communist Party rule.

The findings are part of a new report called “Nations in Transit¹ 2017.”

This is the second-largest drop in democracy ratings in the 22-years Freedom House has produced the report. The group blames the drop on the rise of populism. It noted² that leaders in some countries are openly attacking democracy.

Concerns about Hungary and Poland

The report says Hungary, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, now has the lowest rating of any country in Central Europe.

Nate Schenkkan works for Freedom House in New York. He spoke³ to VOA on Skype.

“When we talk about populism in Central Europe, Orbán is the first name. He has created a kind of model for member states, even of the European Union, to reject democracy.”

There were pro-democracy protests in Hungary last Sunday.

Two days later, Hungary’s government press office reacted to the Freedom House report. It said “freedom of the press fully⁴ prevails in Hungary. Every political opinion can find room and be published in the Hungarian press.” And it said, “Hungarian citizens can exercise their democratic rights in free elections.”

The report also criticized the leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski. It said that populist leaders in both Poland and Hungary had attacked constitutional courts and sought to weaken the system of checks and balances.

The Freedom House said the “spectacular breakdown⁵ of democracy in these countries should serve as a warning about the fragility of the institutions that are necessary for liberal democracy."

Health of democracy in Russia

Russia had one of the report’s lowest ratings. Yet Freedom House says a highly developed civil society continues to exist there, along with some independent media.

But a former Russian central bank official disagrees. Sergey Aleksashenko now works at the Brookings Institution, in Washington, D.C. He spoke to VOA on Skype.

“We say that there was some freedom of Internet. But if you move that 80 percent of (the) Russian population that receives news from television, and there is no, any television news station that is not controlled by the government, then OK, you may argue there is some freedom. Of course, there is. But it’s not the freedom, it’s not the freedom of information and in my personal view, it’s a serious misjudgment of what’s going on in Russia.”

Democracy in other areas

In the Balkans, the democracy scores for four countries dropped over the past year. Two improved: Montenegro and Croatia.

Sergey Aleksashenko said Balkan countries should not be compared to Western Europe. He noted they have had to create systems, governmental and state cultures since the end of Communist rule. He said that is not an easy process.

Freedom House once again described Kyrgyzstan as a “Consolidated Authoritarian⁶ Regime.” The country had been removed from the classification after competitive parliamentary elections in 2011.

The report said corruption⁷ in Eurasia dropped in five of the 12 countries, but reached new lows in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Freedom House pointed⁸ to progress in Ukraine, Romania and Kosovo. It said the Romanian government dealt with problems in the voting process during its 2015 elections. And it said both Ukraine and Kosovo enacted⁹ minor¹⁰ structural¹¹ reforms. But the group said the two countries face obstacles that could stop the progress.

I’m Anne Ball.

Words in This Story

prevail – v. to be or become effective

checks and balances – n. a system that prevents one part of the government from controlling too much power

spectacular – adj. causing wonder or excitement

fragility – adj. something easily broken or destroyed

norms – n. average; normal value

shallow – adj. having little depth

tap into – v. to use something in a way that leads to good results

obstacle – n. barrier

1 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

2 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

5 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

6 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

7 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

8 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

9 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

10 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

11 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。