Measuring Democracy

Measuring Democracy
Author: Gerardo L. Munck
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2009-04-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0801896509

Although democracy is a widely held value, concrete measurement of it is elusive. Gerardo L. Munck’s constructive assessment of the methods used to measure democracies promises to bring order to the debate in academia and in practice. Drawing on his years of academic research on democracy and measurement and his practical experience evaluating democratic practices for the United Nations and the Organization of American States, Munck's discussion bridges the theories of academia with practical applications. In proposing a more open and collaborative relationship between theory and action, he makes the case for reassessing how democracy is measured and encourages fundamental changes in methodology. Munck’s field-tested framework for quantifying and qualifying democracy is built around two instruments he developed: the UN Development Programme’s Electoral Democracy Index and a case-by-case election monitoring tool used by the OAS. Measuring Democracy offers specific, real-world lessons that scholars and practitioners can use to improve the quality and utility of data about democracy.

Democratization and Research Methods

Democratization and Research Methods
Author: Michael Coppedge
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2012-06-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0521537274

Democratization and Research Methods summarizes what researchers know about why countries become and remain democracies, and why they often do not. It also evaluates the various methods social scientists use to answer such questions. Michael Coppedge draws lessons that can be applied to any political phenomenon that is studied comparatively.

Defining and Measuring Democracy

Defining and Measuring Democracy
Author: David Beetham
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 244
Release: 1994-11-29
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781446226186

The rapid worldwide phase of democratization since the 1980s has stimulated a renewed interest in how we define and measure democracy. The contributors to this volume include leading political theorists, political scientists and experts in comparative government from across Europe. Defining and Measuring Democracy offers an integrated analysis of key debates and issues ranging from the question of how to define democracy to the issue of cultural diversity. Each chapter offers new insights and approaches placed in the context of contemporary debates.

On Measuring Democracy

On Measuring Democracy
Author: Alex Inkeles
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2017-07-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1351502069

This book focuses on measuring democratic political systems as such, and is concerned more with the consequences and concomitants of political democracy in cross-national research. It examines the sequences and dynamics of political change between 1800 and 1986.

Varieties of Democracy

Varieties of Democracy
Author: Michael Coppedge
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022-10-06
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781108440967

Varieties of Democracy is the essential user's guide to The Varieties of Democracy project (V-Dem), one of the most ambitious data collection efforts in comparative politics. This global research collaboration sparked a dramatic change in how we study the nature, causes, and consequences of democracy. This book is ambitious in scope: more than a reference guide, it raises standards for causal inferences in democratization research and introduces new, measurable, concepts of democracy and many political institutions. Varieties of Democracy enables anyone interested in democracy - teachers, students, journalists, activists, researchers and others - to analyze V-Dem data in new and exciting ways. This book creates opportunities for V-Dem data to be used in education, research, news analysis, advocacy, policy work, and elsewhere. V-Dem is rapidly becoming the preferred source for democracy data.

Global Quality of Democracy as Innovation Enabler

Global Quality of Democracy as Innovation Enabler
Author: DAVID F J. CAMPBELL
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Total Pages: 564
Release: 2019-11-22
Genre: Democracy
ISBN: 9783030102210

This book assesses the interconnectedness of democracy and economic development. It concentrates on how to conceptualize and to measure democracy and quality of democracy in global comparison. The author makes the argument that a quality-of-democracy understanding based on sustainable development relates crucially with economic growth, but more so with economic development. The empirical macro-model focuses on approximately over hundred countries (in a world model) and covers about a fourteen-year period of 2002-2015, identifying the following basic dimensions as being relevant for further analysis: freedom, equality, control, sustainable development, and self-organization (political self-organization). Readers will appreciate the global perspective the work offers.

Measuring America

Measuring America
Author: Andro Linklater
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2003-09-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0452284597

In 1790, America was in enormous debt, having depleted what little money and supplies the country had during its victorious fight for independence. Before the nation's greatest asset, the land west of the Ohio River, could be sold it had to be measured out and mapped. And before that could be done, a uniform set of measurements had to be chosen for the new republic out of the morass of roughly 100,000 different units that were in use in daily life. Measuring America tells the fascinating story of how we ultimately gained the American Customary System—the last traditional system in the world—and how one man's surveying chain indelibly imprinted its dimensions on the land, on cities, and on our culture from coast to coast.

Education, Justice & Democracy

Education, Justice & Democracy
Author: Danielle Allen
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2013-03-04
Genre: Education
ISBN: 022601293X

Education is a contested topic, and not just politically. For years scholars have approached it from two different points of view: one empirical, focused on explanations for student and school success and failure, and the other philosophical, focused on education’s value and purpose within the larger society. Rarely have these separate approaches been brought into the same conversation. Education, Justice, and Democracy does just that, offering an intensive discussion by highly respected scholars across empirical and philosophical disciplines. The contributors explore how the institutions and practices of education can support democracy, by creating the conditions for equal citizenship and egalitarian empowerment, and how they can advance justice, by securing social mobility and cultivating the talents and interests of every individual. Then the authors evaluate constraints on achieving the goals of democracy and justice in the educational arena and identify strategies that we can employ to work through or around those constraints. More than a thorough compendium on a timely and contested topic, Education, Justice, and Democracy exhibits an entirely new, more deeply composed way of thinking about education as a whole and its importance to a good society.

Elections as Instruments of Democracy

Elections as Instruments of Democracy
Author: G. Bingham Powell
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2000-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780300080162

This text explores elections as instruments of democracy. Focusing on elections in 20 democracies over the last 25 years, it examines the differences between two visions of democracy - the majoritarian vision and the proportional influence vision.