Tunisia most democratic among countries roiled by Arab Spring

Since the wave of pro-democracy protests swept the Middle East ten years ago, also called Arab Spring, only a few countries have improved their scores on the Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index.   

In the 2020 index, as reported by Statistica, Tunisia, where the government of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown in 2011, scored 6.59 out of ten, climbing 90 places from 2010 while also ranking 54th as the most democratic country in the world. 

Tunisia’s success has, however, been overshadowed by the suspension in July of the parliament by the current president, Kais Saied. 

Yemen which is currently engulfed in a violent conflict, has descended 11 ranks into the bottom ten of the world’s least democratic countries. 

Libya is now tied with Yemen at the bottom of the list, with a democracy score of 1.95 out of 10.  Egypt has stagnated as well, albeit at a slightly higher score of 2.93. 

A change of power in Syria was resisted by government dictator Bashar al-Assad with all force, causing a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians and caused the country to now rank as one of the five least democratic nations on earth.

Algeria rose ten ranks to a score of 3.77, while Morocco progressed 20 spots, from a score of four to five out of ten, to rank 96 of the world’s most democratic countries.