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The latest reports that measure the global state of democracy, such as V-Dem, Freedom in the World, the Bertelsmann Transformation Index, and the Democracy Index, all sound the alarm about the worldwide decline in civil and political liberties, accompanied by a corresponding rise in autocracies. For example, the recent Democracy Index report published by The Economist reveals that, out of 167 countries evaluated, 60 are classified as autocracies, representing nearly 40 percent of the world’s population.
The hopeful news in the latest Democracy Index is that a country that endured Nazi occupation followed by a long communist dictatorship—the Czech Republic—achieved “Full Democracy” status in 2024. It now ranks among an exclusive group of 25 nations and, along with Estonia, is one of only two countries from the former Eastern Bloc that collapsed between 1989 and 1991 to reach this status.
Of the five components that make up the Democracy Index, the Czech Republic scores 9.58 in electoral process and pluralism, similar to other full democracies such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Costa Rica.
In civil liberties, the Czech Republic also stands out with a score of 9.12, higher than that of Canada, Spain, and Portugal; in political participation, it records 7.78, matching Finland and Uruguay; and in political culture, it achieves 7.50, outperforming Uruguay, the United Kingdom, Costa Rica, Austria, and Estonia among the top full democracies.
The Czech Republic’s greatest challenge, according to The Economist’s index, lies in the functioning of government, where it scores 6.43—the lowest rating in this category among the 25 full democracies.
After separating from Slovakia, the Czech Republic’s first president was Václav Havel, an iconic figure of dissent against the communist regime in his country, the architect of the exemplary democratic transition following the “Velvet Revolution” that began on November 17, 1989, a champion of European integration, and a political leader committed to the universal defense of human rights.
Havel’s legacy remains alive in the Czech Republic’s foreign policy on human rights and in its civil society, which is strongly committed to international democratic solidarity. In this regard, the Czech Republic has provided significant support for Ukraine’s territorial defense, beginning with Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and strengthening after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. The Czech Republic also hosts around 400,000 Ukrainian citizens, making it the country with the highest number of Ukrainian refugees per 100,000 inhabitants.
In a speech delivered on March 7, 1993, in the city of Olomouc, Václav Havel said: "We are a people who once fell victim to a shameful capitulation to a bully in Munich, and for that reason, we must know even better than others that no concessions should ever be made to evil, even when it is not directed at us. After all, indifference toward others can only have one consequence: the indifference of others toward us".
There are many ways to measure a country’s greatness. One of them is by its respect for human rights, both domestically and through its international commitments. In that sense, with a territory roughly the size of Argentina’s Entre Ríos Province, the Czech Republic has become, as shown by the Democracy Index and by the enduring legacy of Václav Havel in its foreign policy, a global reference point for democratic solidarity.
