The Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index 2020 ranks Iraq 118th out of 167 countries, with no movement in the rankings from late year. However, its score has declined to 3.62 out of 10, from 3.74 in 2019. This deterioration keeps Iraq in the "authoritarian" category of countries (following a demotion from "hybrid regime" in 2019). Although its global ranking is low, Iraq is ranked eighth out of 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, reflecting Iraq's decades-long track record of holding relatively free and fair parliamentary and local elections, which are a rarity in the region. As a result, Iraq scores relatively highly in the electoral process (unchanged at 5.25) and political participation (unchanged at 6.67) categories.

Violent nationwide demonstrations give way to more intermittent political activity

Nationwide protests continued throughout Iraq in the first quarter of 2020, after erupting in October 2019 and forcing the incumbent government to resign in December 2019. After an extremely violent first quarter-in which more than 400 protesters died and thousands more were injured-momentum began to fade as fatigue set in, before pandemic-related lockdown measures brought the protest movement to a halt. Nonetheless, the core demands that drove the demonstrators (improvements in governance, public services and employment opportunities) remain largely unsolved. At the heart of the dissatisfaction is the perception that the benefits of the country's considerable oil wealth are not being felt by ordinary Iraqis, with the blame placed on corruption, both internally in the upper echelons of Iraqi politics and externally as a result of foreign influence. Iraq spent much of 2020 in political gridlock as quarrelsome political factions struggled to agree on a leader. Since Mustafa al-Kadhimi was appointed as prime minister, prominent elements within Iraq's parliament have remained a disruptive influence on any reform progress. As a result, functioning of government is Iraq's lowest-scoring category, with a score of zero. Iraq records its second-lowest score in the civil liberties category, in which its score has declined to 1.18, from 1.76 in 2019. The low score is partially a result of lockdown restrictions (which affected civil liberties globally), but more importantly is due to reports of increased use of arbitrary detentions, as well as allegations of torture being used to extract confessions from suspected terrorists (including members of Islamic State and al-Qaida). The security forces and armed militias, in particular, are accused of using repressive tactics to suppress demonstrations, including firing live ammunition. In contrast, Iraq maintains relatively high scores in both the political participation and the political culture categories, owing to still-intermittent protest activity.

A free white paper containing the full index and detailed methodology can be downloaded from www.eiu.com/democracy-2020.

Note on methodology

There is no consensus on how to measure democracy, and definitions of democracy are contested. Having free and fair competitive elections, and satisfying related aspects of political freedom, is the sine qua non of all definitions. However, our index is based on the view that measures of democracy that reflect the state of political freedom and civil liberties are not "thick" enough: they do not encompass sufficiently some crucial features that determine the quality and substance of democracy. Our index therefore also includes measures of political participation, political culture and functioning of government, which are, at best, marginalised by other measures.

Our index of democracy covers 167 countries and territories. The index, on a 0-10 scale, is based on the ratings (0, 0.5 or 1) for 60 indicators grouped in five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. Each category has a rating on a 0-10 scale, and the overall index of democracy is the simple average of the five category indices.

The category indices are based on the sum of the indicator scores in the category, converted to a 0-10 scale. Adjustments to the category scores are made if countries do not score a 1 in the following critical areas for democracy:

whether national elections are free and fair;the security of voters;the influence of foreign powers on government; and the capability of the civil service to implement policies.

If the scores for the first three questions are 0 (or 0.5), one point (or 0.5 points) is deducted from the index in the relevant category (either electoral process and pluralism or functioning of government). If the score for question 4 is 0, one point is deducted from the functioning of government category index.

The index values are used to place countries within one of four types of regime:

full democracies-scores greater than 8;flawed democracies-scores greater than 6, and less than or equal to 8;hybrid regimes-scores greater than 4, and less than or equal to 6; andauthoritarian regimes-scores less than or equal to 4.