StrategEast presented its first annual “Westernization Index” at the National Press Club in Washington, D. C. on May 2nd.
The Index measures the rate of progress of incorporating basic Western values in all post-Soviet countries except Russia – including in public and political life, economy, culture and lifestyle. The Index was created by experts from the 14 post-Soviet countries with an introduction from former President of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski.
After brief remarks from StrategEast founder, there was an experts panel on “Promoting Democracy and Transparency in the Post-Soviet World” with Ambassador of Hungary to the United States András Simonyi (2002-2007), former Wall Street Journal reporter and author Philip Shishkin, and tech investor, president and founder of StrategEast Anatoly Motkin.
Three things to know about the Index:
• It is the only report to analyze the 14 countries of the post-Soviet, non-Russian region (PSNR) as a whole;
• It measures each country’s wholesale integration into the Western world across 5 sectors: politics, economy, legal system, language, and lifestyle;
• Both data collection and qualitative assessments are drawn from local experts in each country. This index is a true product of the region it studies.
