A turning point in the East?
Dear Friends of Democracy,
How have East Central and Southeast Europe's transition countries developed politically in recent years?
If you follow the news stream, you might get the impression that the development of democracy only knows one direction: downhill.
But that's not the whole story.
"Overall, the illiberal drift underway since 2012 has lost some of its momentum, while corruption and an eroding political consensus continue to pose significant governance challenges in many countries."
This is how scientists from Bertelsmann Stiftung, an independent foundation under private law in Germany, summarize the situation.
For 17 years, they have provided the Bertelsmann Transformation Index (short BTI), a measure of the development status and governance of political and economic transformation processes in developing and transition countries worldwide.
Encouragingly, as Allan Sikk, Regional Coordinator East-Central and Southeast Europe at Bertelsmann Stiftung, writes, "East-Central and Southeast Europe has successfully halted the almost continuous decline in political transformation since the BTI 2012, with EU accession candidates Albania and North Macedonia showing particularly impressive progress."
Also pleasing: "Croatia and North Macedonia have reached their highest level of democratization in a decade, and Kosovo is also once again edging toward its best score."
On the other hand, "increasingly authoritarian leaders in Hungary and Serbia have consolidated their power."
✊ So there's some good news, right? And maybe we are experiencing a turning point. Democracies have been under pressure for years. But pressure creates counter pressure. People are becoming increasingly aware of the value of democracy and are, therefore, increasingly campaigning for it.
See you in Europe,
Johannes