Research database

This database of research resources contains publicly available information on the political and economic developments of the Eastern Partnership countries as well as policies of the external actors towards the region. The database provides references to major documents, strategies and policies dealing with the Eastern neighbours. It covers policies of all major actors, analysed in the EU-STRAT project, as well as links to useful sources of information about each of the Eastern Partners. To facilitate access to the compiled documents, EU-STRAT sources are integrated in the folders below.

CONTENTS

I. European Union’s external policies. Information about strategic documents, initiatives and programmes with regard to EU external activities and relations with the Eastern Partnership countries.

II. Political and economic developments of the EaP Countries. References to various indicators, which can be used to measure political and economic openness.

III. External actors. Information about the policies and strategies of relevant external actors other than the EU.

IV. . Conceptual framework – explaining varieties of social orders. References to seminal papers and books, which inform the theoretical framework of EU-STRAT.

V. Other information. Links to various policy and research centres within the EaP countries.

VI. Selected Literature

I. European Union’s external policies

Information about strategic documents, initiatives and programmes with regard to EU external activities and relations with the Eastern Partnership countries.

II. Political and economic developments of the EaP Countries

References to various indicators, which can be used to measure political and economic openness.

  • Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI). The Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index (BTI) analyses, evaluates the quality of democracy, a market economy and political management in 129 developing, and transition countries. It measures successes and setbacks on the path toward a democracy based on the rule of law and a socially responsible market economy.
  • Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS). BEEPS is a firm-level survey of a representative sample of an economy’s private sector whose objective is to gain an understanding of firms’ perception of the environment in which they operate.
  • Comparative Constitutions Project. The Comparative Constitutions Projects produces comprehensive data about the world’s constitutions.
  • Corruption Perception Index. Corruption Perception Index each year scores countries on how corrupt their public sectors are seen to be
  • Doing Business Reports. The Doing Business project provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 189 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level.
  • Eastern Partnership Index. The European Integration Index for Eastern Partnership Countries charts the progress made by the six countries towards integration with the EU. The Index covers the period of January 2013 – June 2014, combining independent analysis with the most recent annual quantitative data to provide a snapshot of progress in attainment and continued fulfilment of democratic standards.
  • Eastern Partnership Visa Liberalisation Index. On this website, you can find up-to-date, independent assessment of the fulfilment of criteria for visa liberalization by all the six Eastern Partnership countries.
  • Economic Freedom. The Economic Freedom Network is devoted to promoting economic freedom around the world. The network has member institutes in over 87 nations.
  • Eurostat. The data for the ENP-EAST partner countries are supplied by and under the responsibility of the national statistical authorities of each of the countries or territories.
  • Freedom House ratings. Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world. Freedom House analyses the challenges to freedom, advocates for greater political rights and civil liberties, and supports frontline activists to defend human rights and promote democratic change.
  • Global Competitiveness Rankings. The Global Competitiveness Report assesses the competitiveness landscape of 140 economies, providing insight into the drivers of their productivity and prosperity. The Report series remains the most comprehensive assessment of national competitiveness worldwide.
  • Political Terror Scale. Political Terror Scale goal is to measure levels of violence by the state.
  • The Polity IV dataset covers all major, independent states in the global system over the period 1800-2015 (i.e., states with a total population of 500,000 or more in the most recent year; currently 167 countries). With the support of the Political Instability Task Force, the Polity IV Project has been transformed into a living data collection effort, meaning that it constantly monitors regime changes in all major countries and provides annual assessments of regime authority characteristics, changes and data updates.
  • The Soft Power 30 Index. The Soft Power 30 is a composite index that combines both objective metrics of countries’ soft power resources and subjective international polling data.
  • World Bank indicators: The World Bank is an international organization which provides various data sets including World Development Indicators, Worldwide Governance Indicators and Database of Political Institutions.
    World Values Survey Wave 6 2010-2014. The World Values Survey (WVS) is a global network of social scientists studying changing values and their impact on social and political life. The WVS seeks to help scientists and policy makers understand changes in the beliefs, values and motivations of people throughout the world.

Statistics of the EaP countries. Links to national statistical bureaus of the Eastern Partnership countries.

III. External actors

Information about the policies and strategies of relevant external actors other than the EU.

  • Council of Europe. The Council of Europe is an international organisation focused on promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. The European Commission and the Council of Europe have signed a cooperation agreement – Council of Europe/European Union Eastern Partnership Programmatic Co-operation Framework(PCF). The Venice Commission is an advisory body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts in the field of constitutional law. The Venice Commission’s primary task is to assist and advise individual countries in constitutional matters in order to improve functioning of democratic institutions and the protection of human rights.
  • Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The OSCE addresses a wide range of security-related concerns, including arms control, confidence- and security-building measures, human rights, national minorities, democratization, policing strategies, counter-terrorism and economic and environmental activities. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is the principal institution of the OSCE dealing with the “human dimension” of security. ODIHR assists governments in meeting their commitments as participating States of the OSCE in the areas of elections, human rights, democracy, rule of law, and tolerance and non-discrimination.
  • International Monetary Fund. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 189 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.
  • The World Bank. The World Bank Group works with countries in Europe and Central Asia to help improve people’s lives and achieve shared prosperity in a variety of ways, including through financial lending and analytical and advisory services.
  • Eurasian Development Bank. Eurasian Development Bank is an international financial organisation established to promote economic growth in its member states, extend trade and economic ties between them and to support integration in Eurasia.

Foreign policies of the EU Member States, analysed in the EU-STRAT project

Other countries whose policies towards the Eastern partnership countries are analysed in the EU-STRAT project:
United States of America: Site of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, which develops and implements U.S. foreign policy in Europe and Eurasia and also USAID which promotes resilient and democratic societies and strengthens economic growth and energy security.

Peoples Republic of China: Site of the Department of European and Central Asian Region in the Ministry of Foreign affairs.

Russian Federation

Turkey

IV. Conceptual Framework – Explaining Varieties of Social Orders

References to seminal papers and books, which inform the theoretical framework of EU-STRAT.

V. Other information

Links to various policy and research centres within the EaP countries.

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Belarus

Georgia

Moldova

Ukraine

VI. Selected Literature

Think-Tanks

On Armenia

On Georgia

On Azerbaijan

On Azerbaijan

Reports

Journals

  • New Eastern Europe (exclusive bimonthly news magazine dedicated to Central and Eastern European affairs published by the Jan Nowak-Jeziorański College of Eastern Europe in Wrocław.)
  • East European Politics (an international refereed journal which publishes cutting-edge research covering the government, politics, and societies of the post-communist space. In geographical terms, EEP covers the entire post-communist region, including East Central and South Eastern Europe, Russia and all the other countries of the former Soviet Union)

Blogs

Projects

  • 3dcftas.eu | Understanding the EU’s Association Agreements 
    and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas
    with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia

Books, articles, and other academic resources on democracy promotion, and political and economic developments in the EU’s Eastern Neighbourhood (created by the The Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen and updated quarterly).