Compared to its Western partners, the United States holds a unique position on this list. It surpasses Poland by 25 places in terms of impunity, while Canada, Japan, Germany, France, the UK and Australia all have 30 to 50 places responsible.
It seems the democratic club that America assembled and maintained for all those decades now has a growing hole in its center: America itself. But it would be a mistake to assume that other Western nations are immune.
For Washington, this is not a temporary move. It is a fundamental violation.
The United States is currently the only wealthy democracy on the list that is moving forward in terms of impunity. The damage is concentrated in the country’s governance and economy, and the underlying numbers are startling: The score for freedom from political assassinations tripled in one year, while that of impartial public administration fell sharply.
These indicators do not suggest a positive downward slope. They represent rocks. And it is the difference in responsibility between the United States and its Western allies – as well as the speed of this change – that is at the core of the current Atlantic crisis.
Also about the fact that the current administration in Washington doesn’t seem to care. On the contrary, it defends its new focus as the basis for its America First approach. Of 2025 National Security Strategy it did this very clearly, reclassifying the partners as operators and free partners as transactions conditioned on US interests. It provided a zero-sum view of global geopolitics and economics, and suggested a correct view of international engagement.
