Defence of liberty, democracy and freedom?

This week The Economist had an article that described at length how various indicators showed a decline of democracy, personal and political freedoms have declined since 2001.

It also consisted of a useful diagram:

Here you can see the red is more obvious on the 2009 map than the 2001. The article goes on to lament the failure of Francis Fukuyama's 'End of History' to materialise. The spread of Western liberal democracy after the end of the Cold War didn't quite happen as Fukuyama expected.

The Economist goes on how our liberal values and democracy need to be defended, as they are 'under threat' like never before. Erm, it survived communism, didn't it?

The Economist treats the numbers as worrying, rather than which countries have actually 'regressed' in their freedoms. Oh, and before I go any further I know that 'freedom' is a highly subjective term which I will explain my view of later.

I think that a subjective and quantative analysis is required. Russia may be less 'free' today, but democracy in Russia will always be a farce unless the Russian psyche changes drastically. The West could deal with the Soviet Union, we can deal with an authoritarian Russia. As for the Chinese Communist Party, it has more to worry from China's growing rich middle class than we have of authoritarian values. Taking a Kennan/geopolitical view, other authoritarian regimes don't matter so much. Yet.

On the map you can see how 'freedom' has spread in eastern Europe, and more importantly Brazil. India and Brazil are green in the 2009 map (even Pakistan is upgraded). This is far more important I think. After the meltdown of 2009 Brazil was the economy that spearheaded growth and has come out of the world economy as one of the most vibrant and robust. Brazil is and will grow to be a great trading partner and player in global politics. India as well is important. As Earth's largest democracy it has huge potential. Indonesia is also a good example of how Islam and democracy are compatible.

Freedom itself is a highly subjective term. The freedom to vote in privacy, free thought, free speech and press, expression etc are hall given hallmarks. I'm sure you can find some arguments to say that certain western countries still don't allow everyone to be free. But these countries do provide equal protection to citizens under the law, regardless of race, religion (or lack of), sex, sexuality, gender etc...

Anyway, I believe that democracy and liberty in the bigger picture here is quite safe, as long as ordinary citizens continue to keep an interest in what happens to their governments.