Despite the fact that a parliamentary election was held in November 2010, Myanmar remains one of the least democratic states in the world, ranking 163rd out of 167 countries surveyed in the Economist Intelligence Unit's democracy index; only Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Chad and North Korea rank below it in the index. Myanmar is among the countries considered "authoritarian", a designation that also includes China, Vietnam and Laos. The recent election was deeply flawed, and their outcome by no means reflected the will of the people. A pro-military party led by recently retired generals won a landslide victory, amid widespread complaints by opposition parties of vote-rigging. The election result also reflected the military regime's success in creating a climate of fear and intimidation. Opposition parties were severely hampered in their efforts to campaign for support in the run-up to the election, and financial constraints and a lack of time to prepare meant that pro-democracy parties struggled to field candidates and that in many constituencies the only candidates were those representing pro-military parties.

There will be a small number of opposition figures in the new parliament, and there is hope among pro-democracy groups that there will be gradual change for the better, but the military will remain the dominant political force, with practically no checks on its power. The military junta takes all major policy decisions and appoints all government members, most of whom have backgrounds in the armed forces. The government functions poorly, undermined as it is by rampant corruption and abuse of power. Regional military commanders enjoy considerable power in the areas that they control.

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The military continues to rule with an iron fist

Myanmar's score for political culture is relatively high, reflecting widespread mistrust of the military and the strong demand for democracy that exists in the country. But the public's democratic aspirations are harshly suppressed by the military, with political opponents regularly detained and subjected to torture. Although the pre-eminent opposition figure, Aung San Suu Kyi, was freed from house-arrest soon after the recent national election, it is thought that there are still around 2,000 political prisoners in the country. There is no freedom of expression, and the media are heavily censored. Uprisings against the military have tended to be sparked by economic distress; the mass protests in August-September 2007, for example, began as a response to soaring prices. Amid continued economic hardship, there could be a renewed effort on the part of the Burmese people to take to the streets to try to overthrow the military junta. However, there is little likelihood that such an attempt would be successful.

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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, 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 which 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 0-10 scale, is based on the ratings for 60 indicators grouped in five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; 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 capability of the civil service to implement policies.

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

• 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.