Dangerous temptations in times of panic

In the annual report published by an American think-tank called Freedom House, freedom in 2008, for the third straight year, appears to be in retreat across the world. The report attempts to rate the freedom of each country according to several measures of political rights and civil liberties. The study finds that freedom was repressed in 34 countries with countries in sub-Saharan Africa seeing the most erosion. The number of electoral democracies fell by two to 119 but 2009 will be a difficult year as economic collapse could put young democracies under extra pressure. History shows that days of rising protectionism and nationalism are fertile times for authoritarian regimes to impose further restrictions on freedom. It would be a tragedy if today’s  economic collapse would allow governments to tempt voters to trade freedoms for the relative security that can be imposed at a great cost with more government controls and powers. Sadly however it would not be the first time and it is a very likely scenario in times of panic and uncertainty. Let us not forget the great cost at which today’s freedoms have been acquired.