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Conceptualizing and Measuring the Quality of Democracy: The Citizens' Perspective
[journal article]
Abstract In recent years, several measurements of the quality of democracy have been developed (e.g. Democracy Barometer, Varieties of Democracy Project). These objective measurements focus on institutional and procedural characteristics of democracy. This article starts from the premise that in order to ful... view more
In recent years, several measurements of the quality of democracy have been developed (e.g. Democracy Barometer, Varieties of Democracy Project). These objective measurements focus on institutional and procedural characteristics of democracy. This article starts from the premise that in order to fully understand the quality of democracy such objective measurements have to be complemented by subjective measurements based on the perspective of citizens. The aim of the article is to conceptualize and measure the subjective quality of democracy. First, a conceptualization of the subjective quality of democracy is developed consisting of citizens' support for three normative models of democracy (electoral, liberal, and direct democracy). Second, based on the World Values Survey 2005-2007, an instrument measuring these different dimensions of the subjective quality of democracy is suggested. Third, distributions for different models of democracy are presented for some European and non-European liberal democracies. They reveal significant differences regarding the subjective quality of democracies. Fourth, the subjective quality of democracy of these countries is compared with the objective quality of democracy based on three indices (electoral democracy, liberal democracy and direct popular vote) developed by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project. Finally, further research questions are discussed.... view less
Keywords
democracy; measurement; quality; political culture; public opinion; conception of democracy; political attitude
Classification
Basic Research, General Concepts and History of Political Science
Free Keywords
models of democracy; social science concepts; subjective quality of democracy; varieties of democracy
Document language
English
Publication Year
2018
Page/Pages
p. 22-32
Journal
Politics and Governance, 6 (2018) 1
Issue topic
Why Choice Matters: Revisiting and Comparing Measures of Democracy
ISSN
2183-2463
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed