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Freedom House measures political rights and civil liberties on annual basis using
more comprehensive but less specified measures. Political rights and civil liberties are
scored 1-7 with lower scores indicating higher levels of liberties. In table 3, Freedom
House indicators show more variation in between NATO entrants and other Central
European states that POLITY indicator do, but the changes are not overwhelming.
Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic do not
change from 1997 to 2002. Bulgaria’s score improves by one point on each measure
between 2000 and 2002.
Slovakia, however, goes from being coded as “partly free” in 1997 to “free” in
1998, with a one-point improvement on political rights and a two-point improvement on
civil liberties by 1999. Albania, which sought entry in 2004, was denied membership. Its
“partly free” score improved by one-point on each measure by 2003, but not enough to
make it “free.” If NATO expansion can be credited with providing incentives for
improvement in Bulgaria and Slovakia, then it must have failed to provide sufficient
incentives for Albania.
Ukraine and Russia, which were never invited to apply for membership, saw their
measures worsen. Ukraine’s score dropped one point between 1999 and 2000, leaving it
only partly free. Russia’s score dropped by two points on political rights and one point on
civil liberties, so it remains “partly free.” Critics who warned that expansion might harm
the prospects for democracy in Russia and states outside the alliance, like Ukraine, have
some confirmation. However, these predictions were also made for the seven 2004
entrants that were excluded in 1999, and their scores improve or remain stable over this
period.
Convention