Freedom House LARGEST ONE-YEAR GAINS AND DECLINES IN 2022 Gains in aggregate score reflect improvements in conditions for political rights and civil liberties. -23 Burkina Faso Ukraine Tunisia -11 -8 -4 -4 FREE PARTLY FREE Note: This chart shows aggregate score changes of 3 or more points in countries with a population of 1 million or more. -20 +3 Zambia Kenya NOT FREE -25 Guinea Nicaragua El Salvador -3 Hungary -3 Mali -3 Russia -3 +3 Lesotho +3 Malaysia +3 Philippines +4 +4 Kosovo Slovenia Colombia -15 -10 -5 +5 +6 0 +5 +10 Gain or Decline in Aggregate Score Checks on autocrats’ international influence Authoritarian powers have made an effort to reshape the international system by exercising their influence at the United Nations. They have embraced UN participation and multilateralism primarily as a means of defending themselves against international mechanisms aimed at transparency and accountability. Elected five times to the UN Human Rights Council, the Chinese government has repeatedly blocked resolutions addressing its own policies. It has also joined with its counterparts from Iran, Belarus, North Korea, Cuba, and other member states in the so-called Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations to criticize the use of sanctions. Regional organizations too have been used to prop up autocrats. The Russian-controlled Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), for example, deployed troops in January 2022 to protect Kazakhstan’s President KasymZhomart Tokayev from large-scale antigovernment protests sparked by a sharp rise in fuel prices. However, authoritarian cooperation is motivated by narrow self-interest and centers on low-cost actions, meaning it can fracture when regimes’ priorities diverge or they encounter determined democratic pressure. The CSTO’s response to the crisis in Kazakhstan, for instance, stood in stark contrast to the organization’s failure to assist Armenia, the only member state that is rated Partly Free, as it suffered repeated attacks on its sovereign territory by fellow member state Azerbaijan. Few of Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian allies have openly supported his war of aggression against Ukraine. CCP leader Xi Jinping has not endorsed the invasion or provided military support despite describing the bilateral partnership as having “no limits” early in 2022. The countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia are often seen as lying within Moscow’s geopolitical orbit, but Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have declined to recognize Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory, and they have all complied with sanctions against Russian banks. The Kremlin’s most steadfast ally in the region continues to be President Alyaksandr Lukashenka of Belarus, who is dependent on Russian support to maintain his own tenuous grip on power. FreedomHouse.org 9