The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2010 democracy index ranks The Gambia 129th out of 167 countries, down 18 places on its rank in 2008. The country's overall score (out of 10) has fallen from 4.19 in 2008 to 3.38 in 2010, shifting it from the "hybrid regime" to the "authoritarian" category. The basic nature of the regime has remained unchanged-the government uses a combination of patronage and repression to stay in power; the media is heavily censored; journalists and opposition members who are critical of the president are detained; and the legislature and judiciary are subordinated to the executive. The Gambia's score on the index has declined because of an increase in the frequency of such transgressions-detentions without trial have become more common; the president has made increasing use of cabinet reshuffles to entrench his control; and judicial independence has been eroded further. The largest decline has been in the score for political participation, which has fallen from 4.44 in 2008 to 2.22 in 2010, as the repression of the opposition has worsened the climate of fear in the country and deterred engagement.

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Unsavoury tactics are used to secure election victories

The Gambia's lowest score is for electoral process and pluralism. Although opposition parties are allowed to contest elections and vote-rigging is uncommon, elections are rendered meaningless by severe flaws in the pre-election environment. Public resources are routinely used by the incumbent to campaign and win support; the president has issued multiple threats not to provide government services to areas that vote for the opposition; and opposition parties are regularly harassed. For example, in June 2010, just as campaigning for the 2011 election began, the campaign manager of the largest opposition party was imprisoned for assembling a crowd without a licence. These tactics make an opposition victory virtually impossible.

Power is concentrated in the president's office

The president, Yahya Jammeh, has ruled The Gambia since seizing power in a coup in 1994. Power is heavily concentrated in his office. Mr Jammeh reshuffles his cabinet as often as once every two months to prevent potential rivals from building support bases. This creates discontinuity and undermines policymaking. Parliament is dominated by his party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC). Furthermore, the APRC's parliamentary faction is controlled by the president-he has the power to expel members of parliament (MPs), and MPs who change parties constitutionally have to re-stand for election, so MPs rely on him for their positions. The judiciary lacks independence. This was demonstrated in June 2009 when the president sacked the chief justice, without explanation, despite objections that this was unconstitutional. As a result, The Gambia's score on the functioning of government category has continued to deteriorate.

The media's freedom is severely restricted

Civil liberties are generally not respected and this is most visible in the president's attitude towards the media. A number of journalists who have written articles criticising the government have been arrested and put on trial. Self-censorship and harsh libel laws limit press coverage, and much of the media is used for government propaganda.

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A global heatmap 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.