Institute for Public Affairs issued a publication Slovakia 2012. Trends in Quality of Democracy.
It is the fourth edition of the main output of IVO Barometer, a project in which analysts of the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) regularly evaluate 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 analyzing main development trends in five key areas: democratic institutions and the rule of law; legislation; protection and implementation of human and minority rights; performance of independent and public service media; and civil society and the third sector.
IVO formed panels of renowned experts from academic and research institutions who elaborated quarterly background analyses of developments in each particular area in compliance with a set methodology. Based on these analyses and under IVO supervision, individual teams issued regular assessments of recent developments in particular areas.
A detailed assessment of the quality of democracy in each examined area is complemented by an analysis of public opinion regarding development trends of Slovak society in 2012.
The role of experts was also to award the overall rating in each particular area on the scale ranging from 1.00 to 5.00. The rating of 1.00 expresses the optimum quality of democracy complying with standards and comparison criteria applied by the EU and the Council of Europe in the field of institutional stability, political democracy and implementation of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The project was supported by the Embassy of the United States of America, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, British Embassy, Stredoeurópska nadácia (CEF - Central European Foundation) and Západoslovenská energetika, a.s.
