Armenia bettered its rating
Freedom House, an international human rights watchdog, has released its annual report "Nations in Transit 2013" which is comprehensive, comparative study of democratic development in 29 countries from Central Europe to Eurasia.
This edition covers the period from January 1 through December 31, 2012 and measures progress according to the following indicators: electoral process, civil society, independent media, national democratic governance, local democratic governance, judicial framework and independence, and corruption.
"In 2012, autocratic regimes in Eurasia fought energetically to keep the threat of democratic change at bay. In some cases, governments with established records of repression introduced new and arguably redundant measures to further constrain dissent, having already engaged in years of censorship, subjugated the justice system, and in some contexts resorted to violence. As a result, governance institutions in the region's autocracies grew more dysfunctional, less independent, and more prone to corruption.
Meanwhile in Central Europe, a public backlash against unpopular austerity measures destabilized several governments in 2012, testing the durability of democratic institutions. Despite frequent government changes and heightened political polarization, most states in the region were able to respond to mounting pressure without significantly straying from core democratic norms. Corruption in the Balkan states appears to be deepening, despite pressure from the European Union and international lending institutions to strengthen judicial independence and produce verdicts in high-profile cases. Across the region, political interests and personal connections between government and business regularly influence public tender and privatization procedures. Judicial institutions are overburdened and subject to political interference. And journalists-particularly those covering organized crime and corruption-face political pressure, intimidation, and attacks," reads the report.
Speaking about the notable trends, the international watchdog says that improvements were seen in Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Georgia, as well as in the disputed territories of Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the latter of which moved from Not Free to Partly Free. Positive changes have been observed in Armenia, one of the six countries that have improved its democratic rating.
