The State of Post-Soviet Democracy

Another widely disputed presidential election result in Belarus has led to mass protests against the Lukashenko government which are being described as the largest in the country's history. In the five elections since his second round victory in 1994, all have been dogged by allegations of foul play. Lukashenko removed presidential term limits in the country via a disputed 2004 referendum and is often referred to as 'Europe's last dictator'.

The Bertelsmann Transformation Index classifies Belarus as a "moderate autocracy', and in terms of its political and economic development received an index score of 4.89 - indicating that progress since the end of the Soviet era has been 'very limited'. The 'status index' takes into account many factors such as political participation, separation of powers, independent judiciary, as well as assessing the state of the economy on numerous levels.

As this infographic shows, Belarus is joined by other post-Soviet states with a poor rating, including Russia itself with the same 'very limited' and 'moderate autocracy' labels. Of those assessed by the index, Ukraine is deemed to have the most advanced democracy and market economy but is still classed as a 'defective democracy'.