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How can we best measure democracy, and what distinct forms does it take?

Image courtesy of interviewee. December 6, 2024

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This video discusses the conceptualization and measurement of democracy, recognizing five distinct types: electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian democracy. The approach treats democracy as a continuum rather than a fixed category, allowing for the recognition of multiple varying attributes. The authors emphasize the importance of understanding democracy through continuous concepts and a hierarchical structuring of components.

Additionally, the text addresses key methodological challenges, such as deciding which varieties of democracy to include and how to combine independent dimensions for a multidimensional measurement. Incremental changes in democratic attributes, such as press freedom or electoral integrity, are highlighted as more common than major regime shifts. It notes a significant global decline in democracy averages since 2020, particularly in larger countries, while stressing the importance of precise indices that account for nuanced changes in democratic practices.

The authors also underscore the practical utility of their data for tracking democratic health across nations, identifying eroded aspects of democracy, and suggesting targets for international support. Finally, they outline three key factors crucial for sustaining democracy: a vibrant civil society, rule of law, and well-organized political parties, which tend to reinforce democracy together.

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Here are five key points from the video regarding the study of democracy:

1. **Diversity of Democratic Conceptions**: The video identifies five distinct conceptions of democracy: electoral democracy, liberal democracy, participatory democracy, deliberative democracy, and egalitarian democracy. This recognition allows for a more nuanced understanding of democracy beyond a singular definition.

2. **Measurement as a Continuum**: The authors propose measuring democracy as a continuous concept rather than strictly categorizing it. This perspective acknowledges the complexity of democratic attributes and allows for a more flexible assessment of democratic qualities across different countries.

3. **Specificity in Measurement**: There is an emphasis on developing specific measures that capture the diverse attributes of democracy in great detail. These measures are then combined into general indexes based on empirical relationships observed in the data, offering flexibility for further analysis.

4. **Incremental Changes and Erosion**: The video highlights that changes in democracy often occur through subtle, incremental shifts rather than dramatic regime changes. It notes that erosion or backsliding can happen in specific areas, and democratic integrity may decline gradually through factors like press freedom restrictions or selective arrests, without immediate large-scale upheavals.

5. **Utility of Data for Analysis and Action**: The data produced can be utilized by practitioners to monitor democratic conditions in various countries, identify potential targets for democracy promotion, and serve as an early warning system for countries likely to experience significant changes. The authors stress the importance of providing access to specific indicators to encourage detailed analysis rather than relying solely on summary indices.

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Here are the key quotes extracted from the video, which emphasize the main points regarding different conceptions of democracy, measurement approaches, and the analysis of democratic changes:

1. **Different Conceptions of Democracy**:
- "We recognize five different conceptions of democracy: electoral democracy, liberal democracy, participatory democracy, deliberative democracy, and egalitarian democracy."

2. **Continuous Concepts**:
- "We try to conceptualize each of these types and measure them as continuous concepts rather than just categories."

3. **Specific Measures and General Indexes**:
- "We conceptualize them in some much more specific... and then... recombine these specific measures into more general indexes or indices."

4. **Democracy as a Continuum**:
- "We decide to treat democracy as a continuum, rather than a category... It's really liberating to relax these cramped assumptions and realize that democracy can be understood as the composite of many qualitatively distinct features."

5. **Contested Definitions**:
- "Another choice... is contestable, is about which varieties of democracy we include."

6. **Combining Independent Dimensions**:
- "One of the most challenging tasks that we faced was to find a way to combine dimensions that are independent of each other in order to measure a multidimensional concept."

7. **Incremental Changes in Democracy**:
- "There are often small incremental changes... some attributes change when others are not changing."

8. **Frequency of Regime Changes**:
- "Coups have become much less frequent. Change is more likely to happen through erosion or backsliding."

9. **Attention to Specific Countries**:
- "The smaller number of very dramatic declines have gotten a lot of attention in India and Hungary, Turkey, Venezuela, etc."

10. **Averaging Democracy**:
- "I personally don't find global averages very meaningful."

11. **Focusing on Specific Indicators**:
- "Some information is lost when we combine these things into a summary index... I actually encourage people to use specific measures, whenever possible."

12. **Correlation of Indicators**:
- "We've got a correlation around point somewhere between 0.8 and 0.9 among most indicators of democracy."

13. **Tracking and Early Warning Systems**:
- "Our data can help pinpoint which aspects and that might suggest some targets for aid or pressure... and it could even serve as an early warning system for countries that are likely to experience more changes later."

14. **Protective Factors for Democracy**:
- "In our 2022 book, we talk about a protective belt, that there's certain factors that are especially important for preserving or protecting or perhaps even promoting democracy."

These quotes encapsulate the author's nuanced discussion on democracy, the methodologies employed for measurement, and the implications for democratic theory and practice.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:90000

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Several.

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The first is that we don't try

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to talk about just one kind of democracy.

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We recognize five different conceptions of democracy,

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electoral democracy, liberal democracy,

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participatory democracy, deliberative democracy,

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and egalitarian democracy.

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Uh, and secondly, we, we, try

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to conceptualize each of these types

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and measure them as continuous concepts rather than

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just categories.

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Uh, third as the, is that we conceptualize them

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as a hierarchy of components, some more general

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and some much more specific.

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And we try to,

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measure the most specific concepts that we can.

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And then fourth, we were

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recombine these specific measures into more general

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indexes or indices.

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Uh, and the way that we combine them is finally,

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informed by the empirical relationships in the data.

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So we try to combine together the things

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that easily go together.

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There are, there are four choices that are the,

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probably the most contestable one.

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One is, that we decide to treat democracy

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as a continuum, rather than a category.

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Uh, there's a long debate about whether democracy is one

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thing or, or a dimension.

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But I think that we don't have

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to put countries in just little boxes

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or assume that all the attributes

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of democracy move together.

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It's really liberating to relax these cramped assumptions

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and realize that democracy can be understood

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as the composite of many qualitatively distinct features,

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most of which can vary continuously between more

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or less democratic polls.

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Another choice, which is contestable,

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is about which varieties of democracy we include.

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I think we, we cover most things,

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but some people might say that there are communitarian ideas

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of democracy that we don't cover very well.

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Um, another thing is about how general

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or specific a concept should be.

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Uh, because we're trying to cover all countries back to 1900

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or 1789, our concepts are pitched at a, at a global

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and long-term level,

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which can ignore some idiosyncrasies like the,

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like the electoral college in the United States.

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And then finally, one of the most challenging tasks

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that we faced was to find a way to combine dimensions

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that are independent of each other in order

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to measure a multidimensional concept.

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And we deliberated about this for a long time,

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and we did the best job that we could,

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and ended up with a compromise between

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two different approaches.

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Uh, but, and it's contestable,

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we thought it was just a work in progress.

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But, we're, once we adopted

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that, we're kind of stuck with it.

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But I think thousands of users seemed to be happy with it.

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And they're also free to use the specific indicators

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that we provide in order to use their own formulas

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to combine things in a different way if they,

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like you could imagine, say, a positive poll that defines

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What, a maximum level of democracy would be.

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And you can also think of a negative poll that says

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what it means to have no democracy

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or maybe the opposite of democracy.

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And then you imagine what, what it is that changes as you go

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between the positive and the negative polls.

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So that defines a continuum.

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So we're talking about degrees

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of democracy and non-democracy.

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There have always been autocrats who claim to be Democrats

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because they govern for the people, especially

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by adopting egalitarian policies,

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but they don't practice government by the people.

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A lot of democratic theory holds

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that ordinary people are the best judges

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of their own interests, and they have to be allowed to speak

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and vote for themselves

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and to hold their leaders accountable in elections.

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So we consider elections fundamental.

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Our data suggests that there's,

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there's just a lot more action out there than major

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episodes of regime change.

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There are often small incremental changes,

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and more importantly, some attributes change when

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others are not changing.

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So you might see a change in, in egalitarian

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policies when you're not seeing changes in elections.

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Um, and I think this is important

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because coups have become much less frequent

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in the world today.

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Change is more likely to happen through erosion

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or backsliding, which is an accumulation of small,

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often subtle changes in specific areas like in press freedom

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or selective arrests of dissidents,

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or cooperation of parties weakening of the courts

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or the legislature.

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Although sometimes it gets to the point

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of culminating in the undermining of elections.

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Um, really the major changes are the exception.

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Most countries don't change significantly in most years.

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Uh, so there's been significant decline in the global

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average, but only a small one.

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And only it's only significant since 2020.

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Um, however, the smaller number

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of very dramatic declines have gotten a lot

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of attention in India

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and Hungary, Turkey, Venezuela, et cetera.

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But they're, and they tend

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to be concentrated in large important countries.

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But that shouldn't lead us

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to generalize about a global decline of democracy.

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I personally don't find global averages very meaningful.

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We try to be very precise about what,

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which particular aspects of democracy are changing

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and how much, and our measures are sensitive

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to small changes in the first analysis to, to

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look at different, as different kinds of democracy,

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to focus on five different kinds.

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Because that honors the deep historical traditions

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that gave rise to competing conceptions of democracy.

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And it avoids reducing democracy to just one cri criterion,

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such as, for example, politically quality or participation.

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Um, and conceptualizing this in a rich way ensures

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that each index that we provide is based on dozens

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of attributes,

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that are all well fleshed out. And of course,

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Some information is lost when we combine these things

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into a summary index.

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But we make all of the data available,

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and I actually encourage people to use specific measures,

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whenever possible instead of just

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relying falling back on the, the,

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the summary indexes that we provide.

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We've got a correlation around point somewhere between 0.8

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and 0.9 among most indicators of democracy.

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Um, and, we wish there were a gold standard

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that we could use to compare them all to,

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to figure out which one is best.

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Uh, but, vdms indicators, tend to correlate,

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well with, with a lot of them.

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Um, but I think the advantage is that we can figure out

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what exactly is changing

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because we have hundreds of specific indicators.

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Yeah. Uh, and so it's more useful for that way, for,

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for being more precise about what is doing,

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what's going well, what's going poorly,

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and, where the changes are happening.

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Lots of practitioners are, are using our data to,

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to track countries, and,

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and is, I think it's useful for that

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because it can identify which countries are really having

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problems in a way

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that is comparable across countries and over time.

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Uh, so we don't exaggerate the problems in some country just

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because people are very concerned.

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Um, and we can, we can be fair about that.

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And secondly, our data can help pinpoint which aspects

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of democracy have eroded,

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and that might suggest some targets for aid

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or pressure, for democracy promoters to provide.

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Uh, and it could even serve as an early warning system for,

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countries that are likely

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to experience more changes later.

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And I would say, in our, in our 2022 book,

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we talk about a protective belt,

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that there's certain factors that are especially important

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for, preserving or protecting

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or perhaps even, promoting democracy.

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And those three things are having a vibrant civil society,

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having the rule of law

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and having well organized political parties.

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Uh, those three things tend to reinforce each other,

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and they tend to reinforce democracy.

Understanding Democracy: A Multifaceted Continuum

00:00:00 - Several. The first is that we don't try to talk about just one kind of democracy. We recognize five different conceptions of democracy, electoral democracy, liberal democracy, participatory democracy, deliberative democracy, and egalitarian democracy. and secondly, we, we, try to conceptualize each of these types and measure them as continuous concepts rather than just categories. third as the, is that we conceptualize them

00:00:36 - and some much more specific. And we try to, measure the most specific concepts that we can. And then fourth, we were recombine these specific measures into more general indexes or indices. and the way that we combine them is finally, informed by the empirical relationships in the data. So we try to combine together the things that easily go together. There are, there are four choices that are the,

00:01:06 - One is, that we decide to treat democracy as a continuum, rather than a category. there's a long debate about whether democracy is one thing or, or a dimension. But I think that we don't have to put countries in just little boxes or assume that all the attributes of democracy move together. It's really liberating to relax these cramped assumptions and realize that democracy can be understood as the composite of many qualitatively distinct features,

Conceptualizing and Measuring Varieties of Democracy

00:01:38 - or less democratic polls. Another choice, which is contestable, is about which varieties of democracy we include. I think we, we cover most things, but some people might say that there are communitarian ideas of democracy that we don't cover very well. another thing is about how general or specific a concept should be. because we're trying to cover all countries back to 1900 or 1789, our concepts are pitched at a, at a global

00:02:10 - which can ignore some idiosyncrasies like the, like the electoral college in the United States. And then finally, one of the most challenging tasks that we faced was to find a way to combine dimensions that are independent of each other in order to measure a multidimensional concept. And we deliberated about this for a long time, and we did the best job that we could, and ended up with a compromise between two different approaches. but, and it's contestable,

00:02:41 - But, we're, once we adopted that, we're kind of stuck with it. But I think thousands of users seemed to be happy with it. And they're also free to use the specific indicators that we provide in order to use their own formulas to combine things in a different way if they, like you could imagine, say, a positive poll that defines What, a maximum level of democracy would be. And you can also think of a negative poll that says what it means to have no democracy or maybe the opposite of democracy.

Understanding the Continuum of Democracy and Non-Democracy

00:03:14 - between the positive and the negative polls. So that defines a continuum. So we're talking about degrees of democracy and non-democracy. There have always been autocrats who claim to be Democrats because they govern for the people, especially by adopting egalitarian policies, but they don't practice government by the people. A lot of democratic theory holds that ordinary people are the best judges of their own interests, and they have to be allowed to speak

00:03:43 - and to hold their leaders accountable in elections. So we consider elections fundamental. Our data suggests that there's, there's just a lot more action out there than major episodes of regime change. There are often small incremental changes, and more importantly, some attributes change when others are not changing. So you might see a change in, in egalitarian policies when you're not seeing changes in elections. and I think this is important because coups have become much less frequent

00:04:14 - Change is more likely to happen through erosion or backsliding, which is an accumulation of small, often subtle changes in specific areas like in press freedom or selective arrests of dissidents, or cooperation of parties weakening of the courts or the legislature. Although sometimes it gets to the point of culminating in the undermining of elections. really the major changes are the exception. Most countries don't change significantly in most years.

Understanding Democracy: Trends, Measures, and Challenges

00:04:46 - average, but only a small one. And only it's only significant since 2020. however, the smaller number of very dramatic declines have gotten a lot of attention in India and Hungary, Turkey, Venezuela, et cetera. But they're, and they tend to be concentrated in large important countries. But that shouldn't lead us to generalize about a global decline of democracy. I personally don't find global averages very meaningful. We try to be very precise about what,

00:05:19 - and how much, and our measures are sensitive to small changes in the first analysis to, to look at different, as different kinds of democracy, to focus on five different kinds. Because that honors the deep historical traditions that gave rise to competing conceptions of democracy. And it avoids reducing democracy to just one cri criterion, such as, for example, politically quality or participation. and conceptualizing this in a rich way ensures

00:05:52 - of attributes, that are all well fleshed out. And of course, Some information is lost when we combine these things into a summary index. But we make all of the data available, and I actually encourage people to use specific measures, whenever possible instead of just relying falling back on the, the, the summary indexes that we provide. We've got a correlation around point somewhere between 0.8 and 0.9 among most indicators of democracy.

Utilizing Data for Democratic Insights and Interventions

00:06:26 - that we could use to compare them all to, to figure out which one is best. but, vdms indicators, tend to correlate, well with, with a lot of them. but I think the advantage is that we can figure out what exactly is changing because we have hundreds of specific indicators. Yeah. and so it's more useful for that way, for, for being more precise about what is doing,

00:06:56 - and, where the changes are happening. Lots of practitioners are, are using our data to, to track countries, and, and is, I think it's useful for that because it can identify which countries are really having problems in a way that is comparable across countries and over time. so we don't exaggerate the problems in some country just because people are very concerned. and we can, we can be fair about that. And secondly, our data can help pinpoint which aspects

00:07:26 - and that might suggest some targets for aid or pressure, for democracy promoters to provide. and it could even serve as an early warning system for, countries that are likely to experience more changes later. And I would say, in our, in our 2022 book, we talk about a protective belt, that there's certain factors that are especially important for, preserving or protecting or perhaps even, promoting democracy.

Key Reinforcements of Democracy

00:08:08 - having the rule of law and having well organized political parties. those three things tend to reinforce each other, and they tend to reinforce democracy.

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