Democracies at Risk, Survey Says : Rights: Threats ranging from reduced U.S. aid to authoritarian movements could destabilize many free nations, global study declares.

The dramatic shift toward democracy that has swept the world since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 has slowed to almost a standstill, partly because of changes in U.S. foreign policy, according to a global survey of democracy released Tuesday.

Many of the world’s 117 democracies--out of a total of 191 countries--also face a range of threats serious enough to destabilize them.

Although the United States is the leading proponent of democracy, cutbacks in U.S. aid this year have slashed funds needed for programs that help foster democracy abroad, according to the survey, “1996 Freedom in the World.” Among programs affected are those run by the National Endowment for Democracy, the U.S. Information Agency, Radio Liberty and Voice of America.

“Democratic activists in unfree societies are going to be denied a lifeline of much-needed information, education and resources,” warns the survey by Freedom House, an independent New York-based monitoring group.

But, the report says, U.S. foreign aid is helping to strengthen the economies of several tyrannical regimes, such as those in Indonesia and in former Soviet republics of Central Asia that are still ruled by Communists.

The United States and other Western countries in general appear to have “muted” moral condemnation of Communist and one-party states that have the worst record on freedom and civil liberties, such as China and Vietnam, as they give priority to trade and economic relations, it adds.

According to Freedom House, the transition to and expansion of democratic societies are also blocked by three other factors:

* The “red-brown” alliances of Communist and nationalist forces. Xenophobic and anti-Western movements have blossomed during elections in Poland, Hungary and Lithuania. Those forces also won the largest share of votes in Russia this week.

* The growth of Islamic political movements and extremism. Democracy has the poorest showing in the more than 40 states with Muslim majorities. Only one Muslim state--Mali in West Africa--is fully democratic. And 11 of the 18 most repressive states are Islamic, the report says.

Fear of that trend’s growth has also led to repressive responses. “Islamism is on the march in a number of Asian countries, giving the governments a pretext to adopt increasingly tough police measures that enhance the power of the military and the security apparatus,” according to Adrian Karatnycky, president of Freedom House.

* Authoritarian-run transitions to market economies, most notably in Asia, where the vast majority of the world’s citizens live.

The challenges to the spread of democracy vary within regions. In Latin America, democracy’s future is “uncertain,” the report says. “The formal structures of democracy will continue to be eroded by corruption, resurgent authoritarianism, violence and the drug trade.”

The biggest threats are in Colombia, Venezuela and Haiti, according to the survey. And volatile Mexico is “unraveling” because of economic and political crises of its own making.

Africa presents a particularly bleak picture. Only nine countries representing 10% of Africa’s population are considered fully free. Authoritarian regimes in Nigeria and Kenya became even more repressive in 1995, while Sudan engaged in genocide, the report says.

In Asia, Cambodia’s democratic experiment imploded as the government increasingly sanctioned violence against politicians and the press. China’s repression in Tibet worsened, while Beijing arrested its most prominent dissident, Wei Jingsheng, on “outlandish” charges, the survey says.

Of the 52 Asian states, 15 are free compared with 21 that are totally undemocratic; the remaining 16 fall into what Freedom House labels “partly free” countries with some rights.