Measuring democracy: Can it be done?
Problem: • How can we systematically assess whether a country is a liberal democracy or not?
Solutions: 1. Clarify what you mean: decide what kinds of criteria you should assess 2. Consider whether you can develop operational measures for the criteria you want to assess 3. Decide whether these should be qualitative (judgmental) or quantitative
Criteria: What do we expect to find in a democracy? • Inclusiveness – all or almost all of the adult population entitled to vote • Elections – free and fair elections -- elections with choice • Competition for power – public contestation
Dimensions of liberal democracy: hi Public Contestation lo lo hi Inclusiveness
Using quantitative indicators What are they? – Numerical indicators, sometimes based on quantitative data – e. g. Gross national product – Sometimes based on expert judgments, e. g. placing a country on a scale • Examples: – Freedom House Scores – Human development index
Freedom House Scores • Freedom House: – an NGO or non-profit org. dating from World War II – Assesses democracy in 193 countries by examining the availability of • Political rights • civil liberties – Uses reports, assessments by scholars & experts to rate each country on a 7 point scale: • 1 is high…………. . . 7 is low www. freedomhouse. org
Political rights: 10 scales in three subcategories • Electoral Process (3 questions) • Political Pluralism and Participation (4) • Functioning of Government (3)
Civil liberties: 15 scales in four categories • Freedom of Expression and Belief (4 questions) • Associational and Organizational Rights (3) • Rule of Law (4) • Personal Autonomy & Individual Rights (4)
Overall ratings • Free = mean score of 1. 0 - 2. 5 • Partially Free = mean score 3. 0 – 5. 0 • Not free = mean score 5. 5 - 7. 0 Some scores
Freedom in the World 2007: Country Subscores Country PR CL Status A B C D E F G Canada 1 1 F 12 16 12 15 16 Egypt 6 5 NF 1 4 2 6 2 5 7 Iran 6 6 NF 3 4 2 3 4 Pakistan 6 5 NF 2 6 3 8 6 4 6 Russia 6 5 NF 3 5 3 8 4 4 7
Library Session: • Friday, September 21 st, L 1015
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