Story highlights New Freedom House report suggests levels of freedom declining in many countries

Frida Ghitis: Leading democracies are experiencing a crisis of confidence

Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review, and a former CNN producer and correspondent. Follow her @FridaGhitis. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) The arc of history is bending backward, away from freedom and justice. It's not what was supposed to happen, but it's the troubling reality revealed in a new report from Freedom House. The level and quality of freedom in the world has been eroding steadily over the past decade, the report suggests. And 2015 marked the sharpest decline yet.

In a way, this is no surprise. After all, we have for several years been watching the dispiriting scenes from the Middle East and North Africa -- the least-free region of the world in Freedom House's "Freedom in the World 2016." We have seen, for example, the imprisoning and murder of journalists, the shooting of protesters and brutal beheadings at the hands of extremists and governments. And, of course, we have seen the waves of millions of refugees fleeing the violence in Syria and beyond.

Frida Ghitis

How do we measure this rise in oppression?

Inevitably, there is a large degree of subjectivity. But Freedom House, which describes itself as an independent democracy watchdog, rates dozens of indicators, including real-world assessments of freedom of expression, freedom of religion, whether there is a level playing fields for opposition parties, equality of opportunity for women, the rule of law, transparency of government operations. The resulting score, from 0 to 100, produces three categories: Free, Partly Free, and Not Free.

Worldwide, of 7.3 billion people, only 40% live in countries judged Free, down from 46 percent a decade ago. Of 195 countries, only 86 are rated Free. And even in countries rated Free, the report notes, there's another damaging change: Leading democracies are experiencing a crisis of confidence. Instead of leading the way and encouraging democratic progress, they have grown divided and ineffectual on the world stage, unwilling to inspire and unable to develop a coherent, united policy to tackle many of these global challenges.

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