How are democracy and market reforms faring in East Central Europe and the former Soviet Union? Is civil society expanding or shrinking? Are the media free or fettered by official constraints? To what degree are nations governed by the rule of law? Are human rights respected? Do economic policies encourage or encumber private sector development and growth? No single work provides such a strong quantitative accounting of the developing areas.
In Nations in Transit 2001-2002, Freedom House asked leading regional specialists and in-house experts to answer a checklist of more than 70 indicators for 27 post-Communist countries in ten key areas: political process; civil society; independent media; governance and public administration; constitutional, legislative and judicial framework; corruption; privatization; macroeconomic policy; microeconomic policy; and social sector indicators. Measuring progress in the shift from totalitarian to democratic societies is itself a unique and significant function of this essential tool.
The results are incisive, authoritative, and comprehensive reports that assess the progress of East Central European and former Soviet countries in ridding themselves of repressive political systems and inefficient statist economies. As an added dimension, Freedom House has developed a rating system that allows for a comparative analysis of countries. Nations in Transit is an invaluable resource for government and non-governmental institutions, schools and universities, and anyone else interested in better understanding the political, economic, and legal structures and institutions that compromise the infrastructure on which the transition to open societies and marketsdepends.
