POLITICAL SUSTAINABILITY SUSTAINABILITY OF LIBERTIESSUSTAINABILITY OF DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS

1. POLITICAL
SUSTAINABILITY
SUSTAINABILITY OF LIBERTIES
SUSTAINABILITY OF
DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS
PROF.DR. COSKUN CAN AKTAN
Presented at the International Conference on Sustainability,
Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan
27 January 2019

2. political sustainability vs. political stability
 Political sustainability focuses on protection of
civil liberties and democratic institutions.
 Political stability is not the same as political
sustainability. Political stability refers to
absence of volatility in electoral politics.
 Political instability is the propensity of a
government collapse either because of conflicts
or rampant competition between various
political parties

3. The sustainability of democracy
Democracy is not immutable.
The institutions of democracy
are fragile in the sense that
they take a long time to build
up but can collapse
significantly more quickly…

4. DE-DEMOCRATIZATION
A shift from democratization to
trends of democratic
deconsolidation, backsliding,
regression, and erosion.
de-democratization.
Defective democracy

7. HISTORY OF DEMOCRACY

8. HISTORY OF DEMOCRACY

9. DEMOCRACY IS IN CRISIS
Political rights and civil liberties around the
world deteriorated to their lowest point in more
than a decade in 2017…
the right to choose leaders in free and fair
elections,
freedom of the press,
and the rule of law—
are under assault and in retreat globally.

10. Freedom in the World
An annual study of political rights and
civil liberties
Freedom in the World is an annual global report on political rights and civil liberties. It has
been produced since 1973. The report is composed of numerical ratings and descriptive texts
for 195 countries and 14 territories. The average of a country/territory’s Political Rights and
Civil Liberties ratings is called the Freedom Rating, and it is this figure that determines the
country/territory’s status of Free (1.0 to 2.5), Partly Free (3.0 to 5.0), or Not Free (5.5 to 7.0).

13. DEMOCRACY IS IN CRISIS

15. FALL OF DEMOCRACY
Source: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018

16. DEMOCRACY IS IN CRISIS
Source: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018

17. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties;
the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. Based on their scores on 60 indicators within these
categories, each country is then itself classified as one of four types of regime: full democracy; flawed democracy; hybrid
regime; and authoritarian regime

18. Democracy Index/ EIU
 The latest edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit's
Democracy Index records the worst decline in
global democracy in years. Not a single region
recorded an improvement in its average score since
2016, as countries grapple with increasingly
divided electorates. Freedom of expression in
particular is facing new challenges from both state
and non-state actors, and is a special focus of this
year's report.