Institute for Public Affairs (IVO) released on December 22th the assessment of development of the quality of democracy in Slovakia in the fourth quarter of 2014. In addition, the whole-year average grade for 2014 was announced and results of the year-end public opinion poll were introduced.
Analysts of the Institute for Public Affairs in cooperation with external experts in the framework of the IVO project Opening Slovakia evaluated the quality of democracy in Slovakia in the 4th quarter 2014 by the average mark 3.2 - the same mark as in the third quarter of 2014. However, the whole-year average grade for all quarters of 2014 significantly dropped (in comparison with year 2013) by 0.3 point to the value 3.2.
The experts saw a slight improvement in the area Democratic institutions and the rule of law as a result of positive developments in institutions (President of the Slovak Republic, Senate of Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic). On other hand, the rating has declined in the area Legislation. In other two areas, Human and minority rights and Independent media, regarding the developments in the fourth quarter of 2014, no such major improvement or deterioration in the quality of democracy had place, which would result in a shift in the rating.
Download
IVO Barometer 4/2014 - Newsletter [pdf, in Slovak]
Public Opinion in Slovakia - Presentation [pdf, in Slovak]
Photo
Presentation of IVO Barometer 4/2014 on a press conference in Bratislava. From the left: Grigorij Mesežnikov, Zora Bútorová, Oľga Gyárfášová
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 civil society.
IVO Barometer in 2013 – 2014 is elaborated within project Opening Slovakia.
The rating
The evolution of overall rating according to IVO Barometer in years 2008 - 2014 (year averages from quarterly assessments)
Read more: IVO - Democracy took turn for worse in Slovakia in 2014 (spectator.sk)
