On Eritrea and Global Democratic Health

9 Mar 2026

By: Charlotte Harper

Editor: Taissiya Shegay

Editor-in-Chief: Grace Samuel

The views expressed are the author's own and do not reflect the views of the International Relations Society.

"Ambassador Nura Abba Rimi & President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea (cropped)" by Foreign Affairsng is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

News Bias and How it Manifests

Turn on the news right now, or pick up the latest print, and the same countries’ names will most likely appear: the United States, Palestine, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, and China, among a handful of others. Most people don’t realise that they’ve been reading stories about the same places every day, and the focus on these countries is understandable considering the ongoing, heated conflicts occurring in most of these countries. For a moment, though, ponder on the last time you read about Eritrea in the news or heard about the political climate there. Chances are you won’t remember because the country is comparatively less relevant to you, and especially because it is less relevant geopolitically. Maybe it would surprise you to know that Eritrea is on the brink of war with Ethiopia, with whom there have been bloody encounters for decades. Eritrea's news matters, the state of its domestic climate and regime matters, and the condition of Eritrea’s democracy, while crippling, is revealing of global democratic backsliding occurring around the world.

Eritrea: Situating it on the Geopolitical Stage

Eritrea is a country located on the Horn of Africa with a coastline on the Red Sea. It borders Sudan, Djibouti, and Ethiopia, the latter of which had control over Eritrea until 1993, when it became a sovereign state following a war for independence that lasted nearly 30 years. The population is composed of a variety of ethnic groups, with the two largest being the Tigray and Tigre, and the primary religions of the region include Sunni Muslim and Eritrean Orthodox. These facts are important, but do not reveal in actuality the daily life that the average Eritrean experiences. These facts don’t reveal that Eritrea is one of the most rapidly depopulating nations in the world, as thousands flee the country every month, usually to escape the compulsory military service that is required by every civilian upon finishing school and which has no definite end. They also don’t reveal the lack of energy infrastructure and the issues with transportation and telecommunication that contribute to poverty and food insecurity in the country. However, what is also neglected from this narrative are the improvements that have been made, such as rising literacy rates and primary school enrollment, as well as Eritrea's health care system, which is one of the best in Africa. Mainstream media focuses on the conflicts, the flashy, the fatalities, but often neglects the beautiful culture present around the world and the day-to-day improvements, however small, being made to the quality of life in various countries.

Eritrean Domestic Politics: What’s the Story?

A primary cause of increasing tensions within Eritrea is the deterioration of relations with Ethiopia. Post-independence in 1993, Eritrea and Ethiopia engaged in a deadly border war from 1998 to 2003, framing the hostile relationship between the two countries. Ethiopia lost coastal access after losing Eritrea, and they are continuing, with desperate attempts, to regain this access. Rather than pursuing a path of peace, Eritrea, however, has strengthened ties with Egypt, in addition to the government being accused of working with an opposition group based in Ethiopia’s Tigray region known as the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, according to Al Jazeera. This international conflict has thus increased inner turmoil within Eritrea and created an environment stricken with illiberal practices that have become structural issues today.

What is the State of Democracy in Eritrea?

Freedom House is a democracy indicator, using a two-tier system to score countries using an aggregate political rights score, on a scale of 0-40 and an aggregate civil liberties score, on a scale from 0-60. To put this into perspective, Eritrea has a score of 3 out of 100, with 1 out of 40 in political rights and 2 out of 60 in civil liberties as of 2025. It is considered a militarised authoritarian state and “has not held a national election since independence from Ethiopia in 1993”, indicating its lack of free and fair elections, which is usually a cornerstone of democratic practices. The sole political party is that of the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, and the media is completely censored as independent media was shut down in 2001. The only function of government that is deemed supportive of democracy is that of the safeguards against official corruption, which are considered strong and effective (still with only a relative score of 1 out of 4). Similarly, the only freedom of expression allowed is the freedom for citizens to express their religious faith or nonbelief in public and private (again with only a relative score of 1 out of 4). Lastly, individuals do enjoy certain personal social freedoms, such as choice of marriage, size of family, appearance, and protection from domestic violence, still with a relative score of 1 out of 4. It is apparent that democracy is scarce in Eritrea, not protected, not practised, and not a historical fact either. While there is a global trend of democratic backsliding, Eritrea, since its independence, seems to have never been democratic at all, contributing to the mass exodus of citizens out of the country. This migration outwards seems to be a direct manifestation that citizens enjoy democratic practices where their civil liberties and political rights are protected, where there are free and fair elections with safeguards against corruption, and where the economy and government are open and checked accordingly to protect against authoritarianism and geo-politically controlled economic policy.

Why is this trend important?

Evidently, Eritrea has never been that democratic of a country and democracy for most countries is a recent achievement. While there are more democracies than there were in 1900, the key pattern to observe and take action against today is that more countries are in periods of autocratization than democratisation. According to the V-Dem report in 2025, 45 countries have been affected by a wave of autocratization, while only 19 countries are considered to be democratising. Liberal democracies are also considered to be the rarest form of government in the world, reaching 2009 levels with only 29 governments around the globe being classified as liberal democracies. These trends are important to notice and keep in mind during policy decisions because the democratic values that have driven the liberal international order for decades are unentrenching themselves from the global order, which could wreak havoc on democracy as we know it. In order to adequately protect civil liberties, to support open economies, and to create governments with checks and balances that can defend against corruption, action needs to be taken to support free and fair elections everywhere and to ensure that democratic values remain central to government creation