The shortcomings of democratization as a vehicle for regional reform and transformation are confirmed by the findings of the latest Arab Democracy Index, analysts suggest. The intra-Arab collaborative index is based on the measurement of 42 key indicators in Jordan, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt and Morocco. It examines the results of a survey conducted in these countries in 2015.
“Much has changed in the Arab region during the preparation of this report,” said Bassma Kodmani, Executive Director of the Arab Reform Initiative. “However, the overall decline in the Index was largely expected because of the shrinking or closure of the space for freedoms that opened to the Arab communities in 2011. And now it is becoming clearer that the optimism of a breakthrough in the process of democratization that accompanied the Arab Spring revolutions was not realistic.”
