The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2010 democracy index ranks Kenya 101st out of 167 countries, putting it among the 33 countries considered to be "hybrid regimes." Kenya lies in the bottom third of this group, behind other Africa regimes such as Zambia, Tanzania, Senegal, Uganda and Mozambique. Kenya's score slipped a little compared with 2008 but its ranking improved marginally, illustrating the wider retreat of democracy during the period, both globally and regionally. Although Kenya scores moderately on most indicators, the poor level of institutional transparency impairs its score for the electoral process and pluralism. Pervasive corruption and low government capacity mute the government's ability to function and implement policy. Kenya's best scores are in the political culture and civil liberties categories, reflecting public willingness-and public ability-to take part in democratic debate. Kenya's score on political participation gains from high electoral turnouts but is undermined by the significance of ethnic allegiances in Kenyan politics and the disproportionate power wielded by dominant tribes.

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A powerful president and a weak democracy

The preponderance of power locked up in the presidency is unhealthy for democracy, pushing down the country's score for government functioning and the electoral process. The president dominates the political scene, circumventing the independence of the courts and preventing the legislature from acting as an effective check. The weak legislature and ineffective courts narrow the avenues for public pressure on the president's political agenda and cut short the enforcement of citizens' rights. Widespread fraud in the end-2007 election, followed by serious civil unrest, dealt a harsh blow to the public's confidence in democracy, although the subsequent formation of a grand coalition and its survival to date (despite bouts of serious in-fighting) reversed the slide into anarchy. Interparty agreement on a new constitution, approved in a referendum in August 2010 by a large margin, offers hope of more consensual and pluralistic politics in future. However, implementation remains a difficult challenge given the raft of new legislation needed. The new constitution aims to curb the president's powers and devolve authority to the county level-but endemic corruption, low government effectiveness and ethnic tensions will continue to impede Kenya's advance to a fuller democracy.

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Democracy index 2010: Democracy in retreat, a free white paper containing the full index and detailed methodology, can be downloaded from www.eiu.com/DemocracyIndex2010.

Note on methodology

There is no consensus on how to measure democracy. Free and fair elections, and satisfying other aspects of political freedom, are clearly essential. However, the Economist Intelligence Unit's index is based on the view that measures of democracy that concentrate on the state of political freedom and civil liberties leave out some crucial features that determine the quality and substance of democracy. Thus, the index also includes measures of political participation, political culture and functioning of government, which are often ignored by other measures.

Our index of democracy covers 167 countries and territories. The index is based on the ratings for 60 indicators grouped in five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. The five categories are interrelated and form a coherent conceptual whole. Each category has a rating on a 0-10 scale, and the overall index of democracy is the simple average of the five category indices.

The category indices are based on the sum of the indicator scores in the category, converted to a 0-10 scale. Adjustments to the category scores are made if countries fall short in the following critical areas for democracy:

• whether national elections are free and fair;
• the security of voters;
• the influence of foreign powers on government; and
• the ability of the civil service to implement policy.

The index values are used to place countries within one of four types of regime:

• Full democracy-scores of 8-10
• Flawed democracy-scores of 6-7.9
• Hybrid regime-scores of 4-5.9
• Authoritarian regime-scores below 4.