Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T01:57:15.890Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Where Are the People? A Call for People-Centred Concepts and Measurements of Democracy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2015

Renske Doorenspleet
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article aims to bring the people to the heart of democracy measurement. Existing measurements have reinforced the idea that democracy is the domain of the state with its procedures, institutions and political elites. But where are the people in those measurements? So far, when we measure democracy we rely on experts who determine what democracy is, while people’s views have been ignored. This happens not only during the phase of conceptualization, but also during operationalization. The specific way we measure democracy feeds elitism and is emblematic of how our discipline has developed, namely an ivory tower in which political scientists define and measure democracy without taking people’s views seriously. The article proposes new people-centred measures of democracy and discusses their effect on the rankings of countries and their strengths and weaknesses. The future of the study of democracy lies in developing new measures that challenge our current understanding of democracy and assist us in developing new perspectives, thus reinvigorating democracy studies.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 50 , Special Issue 3: 50th Anniversary Special Issue THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY , July 2015 , pp. 469 - 494
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Renske Doorenspleet is Associate Professor of Comparative Politics in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick. Contact email: [email protected].

References

REFERENCES

Adcock, R. and Collier, D. (2001), ‘Measurement Validity: A Shared Standard for Qualitative and Quantitative Research’, American Political Science Review, 95(3): 529–546.Google Scholar
Ake, C. (1991), ‘Re-thinking Democracy in Africa’, Journal of Democracy, 2(1): 32–44.Google Scholar
Ake, C. (1993), ‘Unique Case for African Democracy’, International Affairs, 69(2): 239–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Almond, G.A. and Verba, S. (1965), The Civil Culture (Boston, MA: Little, Brown).Google Scholar
Alvarez, M., Cheibub, J.A., Limongi, F. and Przeworski, A. (1996), ‘Classifying Political Regimes’, Studies in Comparative International Development, 31(2): 3–36.Google Scholar
Arat, Z.F. (1991), Democracy and Human Rights in Developing Countries (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner).Google Scholar
Beetham, D. (1994) (ed.), Defining and Measuring Democracy (London: Sage).Google Scholar
Bollen, K.A. (1980), ‘Issues in the Comparative Measurement of Political Democracy’, American Sociological Review, 45(3): 370–390.Google Scholar
Bollen, K.A. (1986), ‘Political Rights and Political Liberties in Nations: An Evaluation of Human Rights Measures, 1950 to 1984’, Human Rights Quarterly, 8(4): 567–591.Google Scholar
Bollen, K.A. (1993), ‘Liberal Democracy: Validity and Method Factors in Cross-National Measures’, American Journal of Political Science, 37(4): 1207–1230.Google Scholar
Bollen, K.A. and Grandjean, B.D. (1981), ‘The Dimension (s) of Democracy: Further Issues in the Measurement and Effects of Political Democracy’, American Sociological Review, 46: 651–659.Google Scholar
Bollen, K.A. and Paxton, P. (2000), ‘Subjective Measures of Liberal Democracy’, Comparative Political Studies, 33(1): 58–86.Google Scholar
Bowman, K., Lehoucq, F. and Mahoney, J. (2005), ‘Measuring Political Democracy: Case Expertise, Data Adequacy, and Central America’, Comparative Political Studies, 38(8): 939–970.Google Scholar
Bratton, M., Mattes, R. and Gyimah Boadi, E. (2005), Public Opinion, Democracy and Market Reform in Africa (New York: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Burnell, P.J. (2011), Promoting Democracy Abroad: Policy and Performance (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers).Google Scholar
Burnell, P.J. (2013), ‘Promoting Democracy’, Government and Opposition, 48(2): 265–287.Google Scholar
Canache, D. (2012), ‘Citizens’ Conceptualizations of Democracy Structural Complexity, Substantive Content, and Political Significance’, Comparative Political Studies, 45(9): 1132–1158.Google Scholar
Carter, D. (2008), ‘Afrobarometer: Data Codebook for Round 3 Afrobarometer Surveys in 18 African Countries’ (Michigan: Michigan State University).Google Scholar
Chan, J. (1997), ‘An Alternative View’, Journal of Democracy, 8(2): 35–48.Google Scholar
Coppedge, M., Alvarez, A. and Maldonado, C. (2008), ‘Two Persistent Dimensions of Democracy: Contestation and Inclusiveness’, Journal of Politics, 70(3): 335–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coppedge, M., Gerring, J., Altman, D., Bernhard, M., Fish, S., Hicken, A., Kroenig, M., Lindberg, S.I., McMann, K., Paxton, P., Semetko, H.A., Skaaning, S.E., Staton, J. and Teorell, J. (2011), ‘Conceptualizing and Measuring Democracy: A New Approach’, Perspectives on Politics, 9(1): 247–267.Google Scholar
Dahl, R.A. (1956), A Preface to Democratic Theory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).Google Scholar
Dahl, R.A. (1971), Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition (New Haven: Yale University Press).Google Scholar
Dalton, R.J. (2004), Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices: The Erosion of Political Support in Advanced Industrial Democracies (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Dalton, R.J., Sin, T. and Jou, W. (2007), ‘Understanding Democracy: Data from Unlikely Places’, Journal of Democracy, 18(4): 142–156.Google Scholar
Diamond, L. (1999), Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press).Google Scholar
Diamond, L. and Plattner, M.F. (2008) (eds), How People View Democracy (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press).Google Scholar
Doorenspleet, R. (2000), ‘Reassessing the Three Waves of Democratization’, World Politics, 52(3): 384–406.Google Scholar
Doorenspleet, R. (2005), Democratic Transitions: Exploring the Structural Sources during the Fourth Wave (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner).Google Scholar
Doorenspleet, R. (2012), ‘Critical Citizens, Democratic Support and Satisfaction in African Democracies’, International Political Science Review, 33(3): 279–300.Google Scholar
Doorenspleet, R. and Freyburg, T. (2014), ‘Democracy is Dead: Long Live Democracy! The Theme of Democracy in Scholarly Practice of Political Science, 1989–2014’, paper presented at the annual conference of the European Political Science Association, Edinburgh, 19–21 June.Google Scholar
Dryzek, J.S. (1990), Discursive Democracy: Politics, Policy, and Political Science (New York: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dryzek, J.S. (2010), Foundations and Frontiers of Deliberative Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J. (1994) (ed.), Democracy: the Unfinished Journey 508 BC–1993 AD (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Eckstein, H. and Gurr, T.R. (1975), Patterns of Authority: A Structural Basis for Political Inquiry (New York: Wiley-Interscience).Google Scholar
Fishkin, J.S. (1991), Democracy and Deliberation: New Directions for Democratic Reform (New Haven: Yale University Press).Google Scholar
Freedom House (2014), ‘Our History’, website, Freedom House, https://freedomhouse.org/content/our-history#.VNYZWuasV8F.Google Scholar
Gastil, R.D. (1990), ‘The Comparative Survey of Freedom: Experiences and Suggestions’, Studies in International Comparative Development, 25(1): 25–50.Google Scholar
Giannone, D. (2010), ‘Political and Ideological Aspects in the Measurement of Democracy: The Freedom House Case’, Democratization, 17(1): 68–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gleditsch, K.S. and Ward, M.D. (1997), ‘Double Take: A Re-examination of Democracy and Autocracy in Modern Polities’, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 41(3): 361–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldstone, J., Bates, R.H., Epstein, D.L., Gurr, T.R., Lustik, M., Marshall, M.G., Ulfelder, J. and Woodward, M. (2010), ‘A Global Model for Forecasting Political Instability’, American Journal of Political Science, 50(1): 190–208.Google Scholar
Gugiu, M.H. and Centellas, M. (2013), ‘The Democracy Cluster Classification Index’, Political Analysis, 21(3): 334–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurr, T.R. (1974), ‘Persistence and Change in Political Systems, 1800–1971’, American Political Science Review, 68(4): 1482–1504.Google Scholar
Gurr, T.R., Gurr, E., Gilles, R., Bishop, V., Ruttenberg, C. and Dose, J. (1978), Comparative Studies of Political Conflict and Change: Cross National Datasets (Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research).Google Scholar
Held, D. (2006), Models of Democracy, 3rd edn (Cambridge: Polity Press).Google Scholar
Huber, E., Rueschemeyer, D. and Stephens, J.D. (1997), ‘The Paradoxes of Contemporary Democracy: Formal, Participatory, and Social Dimensions’, Comparative Politics, 29(3): 323–342.Google Scholar
Hui, C.H. and Triandis, H.C. (1985), ‘Measurement in Cross-Cultural Psychology’, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 16(2): 131–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inglehart, R. and Welzel, C. (2005), Modernization, Cultural Change and Democracy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Joseph, R. (1997), ‘Democratization in Africa after 1989: Comparative and Theoretical Perspectives’, Comparative Politics, 29(3): 363–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logan, C. and Mattes, R. (2012), ‘Democratising the Measurement of Democratic Quality: Public Attitude Data and the Evaluation of African Political Regimes’, European Political Science, 11(4): 469–491.Google Scholar
Mainwaring, S., Brink, D. and Perez-Liñan, A. (2001), ‘Classifying Political Regimes in Latin America: 1940–1998’, Studies in Comparative International Development, 36(1): 37–65.Google Scholar
Mansbridge, J.J. and Parkinson, J. (2012) (eds), Deliberative Systems (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Marshall, M.G., Gurr, T.R. and Jaggers, K. (2013), ‘Polity IV Project Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1800–2012, Dataset Users’ Manual’ (Center for Systemic Peace and Societal-Systems Research), www.systemicpeace.org/inscr/p4manualv2012.pdf.Google Scholar
Mattes, R. and Bratton, M. (2007), ‘Learning about Democracy in Africa: Awareness, Performance, and Experience’, American Journal of Political Science, 51(1): 192–217.Google Scholar
Møller, J. and Skaaning, S-E. (2013), Democracy and Democratization in Comparative Perspective (Abingdon: Routledge).Google Scholar
Munck, G.L. (2009), Measuring Democracy; A Bridge between Scholarship and Politics (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press).Google Scholar
Munck, G.L. and Verkuilen, J. (2002), ‘Conceptualizing and Measuring Democracy: Alternative Indices’, Comparative Political Studies, 35(1): 5–34.Google Scholar
Pateman, C. (1970), Participation and Democratic Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Pemstein, D., Meserve, S.A. and Melton, J. (2010), ‘Democratic Compromise: A Latent Variable Analysis of Ten Measures of Regime Type’, Political Analysis, 18(4): 426–449.Google Scholar
Plümper, T. and Neumayer, E. (2010), ‘The Level of Democracy during Interregnum Periods: Recoding the Polity2 Score’, Political Analysis, 18(2): 206–226.Google Scholar
Przeworski, A., Alvarez, M.E., Cheibub, J.A. and Limongi, F. (2000), Democracy and Development: Political Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950–1990 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Rose, R., Mishler, W. and Haerpfer, C. (1998), Democracy and its Alternatives (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press).Google Scholar
, ——, Shin, D.C. and Munro, N. (1999), ‘Tensions Between the Democratic Ideal and Reality: South Korea’, in P. Norris (ed.), Critical Citizens. Global Support for Democratic Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press): 146–165.Google Scholar
Saward, M. (1994), ‘Democratic Theory and Indices of Democratization’, in D. Beetham (ed.), Defining and Measuring Democracy (London: Sage): 6–24.Google Scholar
Schaffer, F.C. (2000), Democracy in Translation: Understanding Politics in an Unfamiliar Culture (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Schedler, A. (2012), ‘Judgment and Measurement in Political Science’, Perspectives on Politics, 10(1): 21–36.Google Scholar
Scoble, H. and Wiseberg, L. (1981), ‘Problems of Comparative Research in Human Rights’, in V. Nanda, J. Scarritt and G. Shepherd, Jr. (eds), Global Human Rights: Public Policies, Comparative Measures and NGO Strategies (Boulder, CO: Westview Press): 147–171.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (1999), ‘Democracy as a Universal Value’, Journal of Democracy, 10(3): 3–17.Google Scholar
Shin, D.C. (1994), ‘On the Third Wave of Democratization: A Synthesis and Evaluation of Recent Theory and Research’, World Politics, 47(1): 135–170.Google Scholar
Shin, D.C. (2006), Democratization: Perspectives from Global Citizenries (Irvine: Center for the Study of Democracy).Google Scholar
Sorensen, G. (1993), Democracy and Democratization (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).Google Scholar
Stoker, G. (2010), ‘The Rise of Political Disenchantment’, in C. Hay (ed.), New Directions in Political Science: Responding to the Challenges of an Interdependent World (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan): 43–63.Google Scholar
Treier, S. and Jackman, S. (2008), ‘Democracy as a Latent Variable’, American Journal of Political Science, 52(1): 201–217.Google Scholar
Vanhanen, T. (2000), ‘A New Dataset for Measuring Democracy, 1810–1998’, Journal of Peace Research, 37: 251–265.Google Scholar
van Wessel, M. (2010), ‘Political Dissatisfaction: What We Can Learn from Asking the People’, Parliamentary Affairs, 63(3): 504–523.Google Scholar
Zuern, E. (2009), ‘Democratization as Liberation: Competing African Perspectives on Democracy’, Democratization, 16(3): 585–603.Google Scholar