Freedom House Europe : Nations in transit 2008 "Democratization from Central Europe to Eurasia"
Nations in Transit, published annually by Freedom House, is a
comprehensive, comparative, multidimensional study focusing on 29
countries and administrative areas from Central Europe to Eurasia.
Country reports and ratings tables are available from the pull-down
menus below. Since 2004 Nations in Transit has been based in Budapest
to build greater synergies between the organization`s analytical and
programmatic work in the post-Communist region. Details available from the Freedom House website.
The following review has been written by Diego Abente, International Forum for Democratic Studies (National Endowment for Democracy, Washington).
This week's Worth Reading is "Nations in
Transition 2008: Democratization from Central Europe to Eurasia," an
annual survey published by Freedom House that examines democracy in 29
countries and administrative areas from Central Europe to Eurasia.
There are three major findings in the 2008
Nations in Transition. First, there appears to be a distinct and expanding
divergence in democratic performances of nations in the former Soviet Union,
former satellite states, and the Balkans. Second, the relationship between
energy consuming democracies and the energy producing authoritarian states has
taken a new shape. Euro-Atlantic democracies seem to be losing their common
purpose to advance democracy in the face of newly emboldened, energy-rich
authoritarian regimes. Finally, while new democracies in Central Europe are
making progress, they still face serious domestic challenges than can hamper
the progress of democratic reforms.
The report also reveals new trends that are
occurring in states of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. According to
the reports' findings, the openness and independence of institutions has
dramatically declined as the price of oil has risen. However, Central and
Southeastern Europe, including the Baltic nations, have made significant
progress in their democratic reforms but also face "political reform
fatigue." In the former Soviet Union, there appears to be an outright
reversal of democratic progress and a move to greater authoritarian rule.
A synopsis of the survey,
"Petro-Authoritarianism and Eurasia's New Divides"
is provided by Christopher Walker and Jeannette
Goehring of Freedom House. Country reports and ratings tables are available at
the Nations in Transit 2008 website. Many thanks to Freedom House for providing
this week's Worth Reading.