Democratic governance fell last year for 20 consecutive years from Central Europe to Central Asia, according to Freedom House’s annual report transit countries report, released Thursday.

The Washington advocacy group’s report covers democratic trends, describing a shift toward authoritarian rule and a “geopolitical reordering” of the region. This reordering is splitting the region into a transatlantic pro-democratic bloc and an authoritarian anti-democratic bloc, the report said.

The report states that democratic principles have suffered setbacks in 10 of the 29 countries in the region. It points to the deepening of authoritarian rule, the expansion of authoritarian aggression, and the strong need for global democratic leadership to contain these threats.

Despite this trend, the report finds that most democracies maintain democratic standards domestically.

The report noted that although Poland faced democratic backsliding, it was able to change course in last October’s high-turnout election, and its ability to recover will be “critical to the future of the wider region.”

Another finding is that hybrid regimes, known for combining democratic and authoritarian features, are at a crossroads.

With countries in the region emerging as distinct authoritarian or democratic blocs and countries with hybrid regimes likely to go either way, 2024 could be a year of grave consequences, the report said. This year will be the largest election year on record, with around half the world’s population voting in more than 50 countries.

Mike Smeltzer, Senior Research Analyst transit countries The report and one of its two co-authors described the intersection during a webinar on Thursday. He describes three camps: democratizing hybrids, authoritarian hybrids, and cyclical hybrids.

Authoritarian hybrid states include countries such as Serbia and Georgia, where governance institutions are “increasingly controlled by the ruling party and abused for partisan or personal gain,” Smelzer said.

committed to reform

The democratizing hybrids, including Ukraine and Kosovo, have “more genuine political pluralism… [have] Demonstrate a genuine commitment to reforming and strengthening democratic institutions. “

Smeltzer said shifts toward a democratization hybrid are often “the result of external catalytic events, such as aggression from authoritarian states.”

“Nowhere is this more evident than in Ukraine,” he continued, pointing to steps taken last year to improve the efficiency of Ukraine’s courts and anti-corruption agencies.

The report found that Ukraine was the only country among the region’s 11 hybrid regimes to improve its democracy.

The final group is a cyclical hybrid, in which regimes “may bounce back and forth between democratic and authoritarian breakthroughs but never seem to achieve full consolidation in either direction,” Smeltzer said. This includes countries such as Albania and Armenia.

Beyond these groups are entrenched authoritarian regimes such as those in Russia and Azerbaijan, which Smeltzer said have not only resisted post-Cold War pro-democracy movements but have “increased repression and worked to thwart democratization efforts elsewhere.”

The report outlines a number of recommendations to reverse the decline of democracy in the region. The recommendations include making the rule of law a strategic priority, helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia, holding autocrats accountable, supporting voters to understand obstacles to reform, and supporting human rights defenders in exile and in their home countries.

Panelist David Cramer, former president of Freedom House and current executive director of the George W. Bush Institute, emphasized support for Ukraine as the most important policy recommendation for protecting democracy around the world and reversing the trends of the past two decades.

“If we can’t help Ukraine win, then other proposals won’t have much of an impact,” Cramer said. “We’re going to see the Russian threat spread throughout the region, and we’re going to see other authoritarian regimes succumbing to the West’s abandonment of Ukraine. Feeling bolder.”

The report also highlights increased cooperation among authoritarian states. Consolidated authoritarian regimes “actively support each other to evade sanctions, suppress domestic opposition, and weaken accountability for military aggression and other violations of international law,” the report said.

Still, the panelists weren’t upset. They say Ukraine’s resilience, high turnout in Poland’s recent elections and the authoritarian government’s overall failure to deliver on its promises to citizens are all reasons for hope for a democratic future.