On July 19, 2011 Institute for Public Affairs posted on an assessment of the development quality of democracy in Slovakia for the first half of the year 2011.
The Experts from the Institute for Public Affairs evaluated within project IVO BAROMETER development of the quality of democracy in Slovakia in the 1st half of year 2011. Overall mark 2,6 means improvement by 0,2 points compared to the last quarter of year 2010. Therefore, the overall rating got back to the level of the first evaluation period of IVO Barometer of early 2008.
The overall rating in the first half of 2011 has improved in the view of the positive shift in the quality of democracy in most of the areas. The exception is the field of human and minority rights, where the assessments did not change as a result of “balancing“ positive trends by the problematic situation of the approach to solving problems of Roma ethnic group and non-heterosexual minorities. In the rest areas authors state the continuing improvement primarily caused by outputs of power which are typical for liberal consensual democracy and by different political culture of the dominant political forces.
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IVO Barometer - 1st half-year of 2011 (Slovak only)
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IVO Barometer
The principal objective of the IVO Barometer, an analytical project by the Institute for Public Affairs, is to provide a foundation of basic knowledge about the actual state of affairs and development trends in the field of quality of democracy, and to put together an operative team of experts and regularly publish their assessments.
The backbone of the project is the regular evaluation of the quality of democracy in Slovakia after it became a full-fledged member of the European Union. The project’s methodology is based on systematic monitoring and analysis of the main development trends in five key areas: democratic institutions and the rule of law; legislation; projection and implementation of human and minority rights; performance of independent and public service media; and Euro-integration and transatlantic dimensions of foreign policy.
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Martin Bútora and Grigorij Mesežnikov introduced IVO Barometer 1st half of year 2011 at press conference, which was led by Ildikó Nagy
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TASR, the news agency, released a report about the latest IVO BAROMETER:
IVO Barometer: Quality of Democracy in Slovakia Up 0.2 pts in 1H11
Bratislava, July 19 (TASR) - The quality of democracy in Slovakia improved by 0.2 points in the first half 2011 when compared to the final quarter of 2010, the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) announced at a press conference on Tuesday.
The IVO Barometer evaluated democracy in Slovakia with a mark of 2.6, which is the same level of the first IVO Barometer released in early 2008.
The evaluation scale is 1-5, with a mark of 1 representing the optimum.
According to IVO president Grigorij Mesežnikov, Slovakia is continuing to stabilize democracy, with improvements recorded in most spheres in 1H11. "We've improved in three spheres - democratic institutions and a law-based state, legislation, and the independent media," said Mesežnikov.
Conversely, no improvement has been recorded in the sphere of human and minority rights. This has been due to the "balancing" of certain positive tendencies with the difficulties in resolving the problems of the Roma and non-heterosexual minorities, said Mesežnikov.
Meanwhile, the quality of democracy in the sphere of a law-based state was marked by power struggles, such as in the prosecutor-general elections, with the Constitutional Court releasing opinions that Mesežnikov described as "problematic at the very least".
Meseznikov further criticized President Ivan Gašparovič's unwillingness to appoint Jozef Čentéš as prosecutor-general, even though the latter was elected in Parliament. "Slovakia hadn't experienced something like this for a long time," he said.
The IVO president also pointed to the tension in the judiciary, with the reform efforts of Justice Minister Lucia Žitňanská (SDKU-DS) meeting resistance from the Supreme Court and the Judicial Council, and the chairman of the two bodies Štefan Harabin in particular.
As far as the media are concerned, relations between the political elites and the media have become more professional. Slovakia did well in the sphere of foreign policy, including in its dialogue with Hungary, even though the Government is being criticized for this by the Opposition, said IVO analyst Martin Bútora.
The IVO Barometer evaluates the state of democracy in Slovakia in five key spheres - democratic institutions and a law-based state, legislation, protection of human and minority rights, the independent media, and foreign policy in terms of European integration and trans-atlantic co-operation.
