almanac on security sector oversight in the Western Balkans

SSR Index – Measuring to Advance Democratisation
8 . Grade aggregation at the level of criteria
After extensive research, the findings were summarized qualitatively and a grade was
assigned for each criteria. The grades were required to be on a discrete, half-point
scale (compared to the continuous decimal-based scale of the pilot study). Grades
were assigned for whole criteria, without grades being assessed for each field of observation.
These final grades were not simply an average of different components for
each criterion but holistically considered the criteria beyond the sum of its constituent
parts. It should be mentioned that the final grades do not account for the intentions,
even the best ones, of the actors in question. Researchers were not assessing the
amount of effort put into reform, but rather the outcome. Despite criticism received
from those whose work was assessed that the Index of SSR does not capture all efforts
and progress made on a yearly basis, for reasons of validity, higher grades were only
awarded if efforts led to improvement.
Grade 3 provided an important watershed level of reform and is important for understanding
the grading scale. 227 In order to receive a grade 3 or higher, relevant rights
need to be safeguarded in a state’s constitution and primary laws for all fields of
observation need to be adopted. For example, in the case of general transparency,
this would mean that public access to information and privacy of personal data are
guaranteed in the constitution and the following laws have been adopted: Law on
Freedom of Information, Law on Classification of Data, and Law on Personal Data
Protection. If the adopted legislation does not contain provisions in line with international
standards of democratic civilian control and human rights protection, a grade 3
could not be awarded. For example, if legislation on freedom of access to information
exists but demands justification for requests from those that require public information,
a grade 3 would not be appropriate.
Moreover, legislation must be implemented for at least two years. That usually means
some administrative and management capacity is in place including key secondary legislation
and internal regulations (guidebooks for implementation, standardised forms,
etc.). Also, it would require that existing posts/organisational units were tasked to
perform duties prescribed with the primary laws for that criteria or new posts/ organisational
units were developed for that purpose. In the case of general transparency,
this would mean that statutory security institutions have identified posts or units in
charge of dealing with requests for freedom of access to information, data classification
and personal data protection. It is also important that independent state institutions
are established to oversee general transparency (e.g. Information Commissioner,
Data Protection Commissioner, etc.). The relevant authorities might not have enough
resources for their work, but they must have been allocated some resources so that
those in charge of providing services for a criterion can start functioning.
227 For a comprehensive discussion of each grade level, please see Annex I.
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Almanac on Security Sector Oversight in the Western Balkans