Australia rises as US plunges in world democracy report
‘Ugly reading’. The year 2025 is being described as the worst of the century for freedom of expression, media rights and justice.
The rise of independents and teals and an underage social media ban have helped boost Australia’s ranking in one of the world’s leading democracy indexes.
At the same time, the United States’ standing has plummeted, with the Trump-era ransacking of institutions and standards dropping one of democracy’s leading lights to the ranks of also-rans.
The annual Global State of Democracy report, released on Tuesday, rates Australia very well across its assessment matrix.
Sweden-based organisation International IDEA charts nations across four main categories – representation, rights, rule of law, and participation – to assess their democratic health.
Overall, it’s ugly reading.
Autocracies and repressive forces appear to be winning. For the 11th straight year, the report finds more countries recorded declines rather than improvements.
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The most extensive global decline was in freedom of expression, with drops in a quarter of the 173 surveyed countries.
Judicial independence is at a 36-year-low globally, while press freedom and access to justice are at their lowest levels this century.
Leading the way is the US, with many benchmarks at their lowest levels in a dataset dating back to 1975.
“The USA is experiencing a period of marked democratic decline,” the report finds.
One factor is the growth in political violence, including assassinations of advocate Charlie Kirk and lawmakers, and the attempted killings of Donald Trump and other high-profile leaders.
The US has also experienced violence against election workers, a rollback of voting rights, executive branch attacks on media freedom and a lessening of judicial independence.
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“While this has manifested most spectacularly during the second Trump administration, the roots of these declines reach far deeper and stem from unresolved conflicts over questions of equality, social hierarchies, and economic distribution,” the report says.
The US is ranked 51st best in terms of representation, 42nd on rights and 37th on the rule of law – rankings dominated by northern European nations.
Australia is measured just outside the top 10 for representation and rights, but seventh for rule of law and fifth – up 16 places – for participation.
International IDEA credits Australia with extensive national consultations to inform its underage social media ban, anti-racism strategy and United Nations human rights review.
The growth of independents, who “purposefully focus on meaningful representation, promising to listen and engage with the local community free from the constraints that may come with party affiliation” is a case study championed in the report.
Teal MP Zali Steggall.
Fresh voices such as Australia’s independents and teals are seen as a sign of a strong democracy. International IDEA’s Canberra-based director Leena Rikkila Tamang said it showed the strength of Australian democracy that frustrated voters could find fresh representation.
“It shows the Australian system is dynamic,” she told AAP.
Tamang said the Asia-Pacific region was home to recent democratic success stories, such as Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
She said US decline was “very serious”, especially given the flow-on effects for other nations.
“Washington’s retreat from the international rules-based order has weakened confidence in multilateralism and it has also emboldened authoritarian leaders and populists around the world,” she said.
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