The Economist Intelligence Unit's democracy index for 2010 ranks Montenegro 68th out of 167 countries—three places down on its ranking in 2008—putting it among states that are considered to be flawed democracies. It shares that category with 14 other formerly communist-ruled European countries. Two of Montenegro's neighbours, Albania and Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH) are ranked lower among hybrid regimes. Montenegro's overall score (out of 10) declined from 6.43 in 2008 to 6.27 in 2010.

Download the numbers in Excel

Montenegro's highest score is in the electoral process category. National elections are generally regarded as being free and fair. Political parties and civil society are relatively vibrant, with a large number of parties and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Transfers of power after parliamentary elections have also been orderly, although this is largely because the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) has practically monopolised power since it emerged as the successor to the ruling communist party in 1991. Montenegro also scores well in the civil liberties category, indicating that political, religious and ethnic minority rights are broadly respected, and efforts are made to deal with violations of these rights.

Democracy is weakened by the poor quality of the public administration

Montenegro has a relatively poor score in the functioning of government category. The local authorities are under pressure from the EU to improve the capacity of the public administration and to strengthen the rule of law—especially after the EU's decision in December 2010 to grant Montenegro the status of a candidate for EU membership. The European Commission has frequently expressed concern about constitutional and legal uncertainty, politicisation of the administration, low implementation capacity, high levels of corruption, and the influence of organised crime. Montenegro also has a relatively poor ranking in the political culture category, partly because of the prevailing system of political patronage operated by the DPS, and partly because opposition parties frequently resort to walk-outs instead of arguing their case in parliament.

The impact of the economic crisis

Montenegro's scores in the electoral process, civil liberties and political culture categories have declined since 2008, partly under the impact of the economic downturn of 2009, which followed years of robust growth. Citizens' trust in democracy was adversely affected by the government's decision to call a parliamentary election 18 months ahead of schedule, in March 2009—before the full impact of the recession had become clear to the public. The economic crisis also appears to have contributed to the authorities' efforts to tighten their control over their clientage network, which was highlighted by the replacement, in October 2010, of the independent-minded governor or the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBM) with a member of parliament representing the DPS. However, concerns that the combined impact of the recession and the weakness of the traditionally fragmented political opposition might result in the public's discontent being expressed through extra-parliamentary protests have not materialised. Nevertheless, a weaker than expected economic recovery may yet trigger more serious street demonstrations and other forms of direct action by workers, especially by those employed at the troubled Podgorica Aluminium Plant (KAP).

Download the numbers in Excel

A global heat map showing regime types and a free white paper containing the full index and detailed methodology can be found at www.eiu.com/DemocracyIndex.

Note on methodology

There is no consensus on how to measure democracy and definitions of democracy are contested. Having free and fair competitive elections, and satisfying related aspects of political freedom, is the sine qua non of all definitions. However, our index is based on the view that measures of democracy that reflect the state of political freedom and civil liberties are not "thick" enough: they do not encompass sufficiently some crucial features that determine the quality and substance of democracy. Thus, our index also includes measures of political participation, political culture and functioning of government, which are, at best, marginalised by other measures.

Our index of democracy covers 167 countries and territories. The index, on a 0 to 10 scale, 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 inter-related and form a coherent conceptual whole. Each category has a rating on a 0 to 10 scale, and the overall index of democracy is the simple average of the five category indexes.

The category indexes are based on the sum of the indicator scores in the category, converted to a 0 to 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 capability of the civil service to implement policies.

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

• full democracies—scores of 8 to 10;
• flawed democracies—score of 6 to 7.9;
• hybrid regimes—scores of 4 to 5.9;
• authoritarian regimes—scores below 4.