Democracy in Practice Series: Measuring Democracy
Disclaimer: The summaries and interpretations provided on this page are unofficial and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS).
Summary
- The presentation explores how democracy is measured globally, examining the relationship between expert assessments and public opinion in the context of growing concerns about democratic decline
- Three major democracy measurement systems emerged from Cold War tensions in the 1970s, with significant expansion after Donald Trump’s 2016 election sparked increased academic interest in democratic measurement
- Freedom House, one of the earliest democracy indexes, was created to categorize countries by their degree of freedom and is funded by the US government, leading to potential conflicts of interest between promotion and measurement roles
- Freedom House measures democracy through political rights including electoral processes and government functioning, and civil liberties including freedom of expression and association, using 172 questions across 25 concepts
- Research indicates Freedom House shows bias favoring US allies while discriminating against Muslim and socialist countries, raising questions about the objectivity of expert-based measurements
- Polity, another major index founded around the same time as Freedom House, focuses primarily on electoral processes and is funded by the CIA through the Political Instability Task Force
- Polity measures democracy through three main components: competitive elections, constraints on executive power, and regulated political participation, taking a more factual approach than Freedom House
- Varieties of Democracy emerged in 2017 as a scholarly initiative between American and Swedish universities, involving over 4,000 experts and recognizing multiple types of democracy including electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian forms
- The three major indexes show different regional trends, with Polity indicating stable or rising democracy levels in most regions, Freedom House showing slight declines globally, and Varieties of Democracy reporting moderate declines since 2013
- Expert measurements reveal significant variation in democratic levels within regions, with Western countries showing minimal variation while other regions display much greater diversity in democratic scores
- Public opinion data from international surveys with over 2.5 million respondents shows different patterns than expert assessments, with countries like Tanzania, Botswana, and Vietnam scoring highly on citizen satisfaction with democracy
- Regional analysis of public attitudes shows concerning declines in satisfaction with democracy in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, while other regions show mixed patterns
- The disconnect between expert assessments and public opinion suggests that measuring democracy is complex and that different methodologies can produce varying conclusions about democratic health globally
Actionable Advice
- Consider multiple democracy indexes rather than relying on a single measurement system when assessing democratic trends
- Examine the funding sources and potential biases of democracy measurement organizations before accepting their assessments
- Look beyond expert evaluations by incorporating public opinion data when analyzing democratic health in specific countries or regions
- Pay attention to regional variations within democracy indexes rather than focusing solely on global or national averages
- Distinguish between different types of democracy such as electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian when conducting democratic assessments
- Monitor both satisfaction with democracy and perceived levels of democracy among citizens as separate but important indicators
- Be aware of technical issues in data collection that can affect democracy measurements, such as expert nonresponse bias
- Consider the historical context and origins of democracy indexes when interpreting their results
- Use comprehensive survey coverage data to understand which regions may be underrepresented in democracy measurements
- Analyze changes in democratic attitudes over time rather than focusing only on current snapshot assessments