StrategEast created the Westernization Index 2018 with two goals in mind. First, we seek to help the nations of the PSNR better address the shared challenges they face in the process of re-building their states and institutions since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Second, we seek to draw attention to an important but geopolitically fragile region in a way that helps the international community better support its development.

The StrategEast Westernization Index is the first of its kind in 3 ways:

It is the only report to analyze the 14 countries of the Post-Soviet, Non-Russian region (PSNR) as a whole. Identifying the PSNR as a single region means acknowledging that for all these countries, the post-Soviet transition has not been easy. It also means asking Western powers to tailor their foreign policy approaches with a more complete understanding of the region’s unique and shared challenges.

Identifying the PSNR as a single region means acknowledging that for all these countries, the post-Soviet transition has not been easy. It also means asking Western powers to tailor their foreign policy approaches with a more complete understanding of the region’s unique and shared challenges. It measures each country’s wholesale integration into the Western world across many sectors. Other research products tend to measure one specific issue, such as economic inequality or press freedom. We are interested in looking at the whole picture, to see how these countries have handled the transition away from the closed, centrally-controlled institutions of the Soviet era and toward the democratic, market-oriented, and accountable institutions of today’s world.

Other research products tend to measure one specific issue, such as economic inequality or press freedom. We are interested in looking at the whole picture, to see how these countries have handled the transition away from the closed, centrally-controlled institutions of the Soviet era and toward the democratic, market-oriented, and accountable institutions of today’s world. It is prepared for the West by experts from the region. The analysis and methodology are undertaken by local experts in each country. Unlike the reams of research into this region prepared by foreign experts, this is a true product of the region it studies.

The StrategEast Westernization Index 2018, by focusing on all post-Soviet countries except Russia, is intended to help generate a more balanced and multi-faceted attention to the region. By excluding Russia, we do not assume that Russia is more or less Westernized than other post-Soviet states and societies. Rather, the objective is to draw attention to all other former Soviet countries and to the development they have undergone since the collapse of the USSR.

The Index is based on a series of elements and benchmarks that helped us to assess the adoption and implementation of the Western model by looking at five key areas:

Political Westernization. Economic Westernization, Legal Westernization. Language and cultural Westernization. Westernization of lifestyle.

The StrategEast Westernization Index 2018 is a useful tool for any Western politicians, think tanks, and/or public institutions whose sphere of interest includes the countries of the former USSR.