
The "labeling problem" is particularly applicable when assessing democracy: A variety of definitions exists, including minimalist assessments that only take into account the existence of certain key institutions such as peaceful transition of leadership based on elections. Broader definitions assess the enjoyment and protection of a wide range of political and civil rights within a country. Disagreements also exist about the manifestations of democracy, for example, to what degree Western-style versions should take preeminence over localized practices and norms.
Critical in any debate on assessing democracy is that the assessment process itself becomes a democratic exercise based on principles of participation, representativeness, accountability and inclusion of the voices of the poor, women and marginalized.
Stated purpose: IDEA’s State of Democracy (SoD) methodology is a framework for assessing the condition of democracy and progress towards democratization. Its main…
Stated purpose: To exploit the potential of household surveys carried out by National Statistical Offices as a statistical tool for constructing and monitoring governance…
Stated purpose: The purpose of the Local Democracy Assessment Guide is to systematically review and catalogue the quality of representative as well as participatory democracy…
Stated purpose: The Project Observatory of Democracy in Central America proposes a system of indicators of legal and institutional governance for Central American countries…
The Opinion Polls and Survey Studies Center is a research institute established to coordinate and conduct surveys on a range of different political, economical…
The UNDP Bosnia and Herzegovina is implementing the Integrated Local Development Project (ILDP). The project aims at systematising and modernizing local…
Can the Arab world, with all its complexities, specificities and fluctuating realities be subjected to quantitative assessment and represented in a set…
The 'Palestine Democracy Index' was developed in 1996 after the first general political elections by a Palestinian team of scholars and researchers at…
To provide data sources on the regime and authority characteristics for all independent states with a population of more than 500,000, for the purposes…
The survey is designed to measure progress in developing political freedoms.
To produce a comparative series of national public attitude surveys on democracy, markets and civil society in Africa.
WWS seeks to investigate socio-cultural and political change on a global scale. The WVS project explores the hypothesis that mass belief systems are changing…
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) is an inter-governmental organization whose programmes aim to provide knowledge…
The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through…
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)is the international organisation of the Parliaments of sovereign States. As the focal point for worldwide parliamentary…
UNDP is the UN's global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to…
Five most recent publications on Democracy produced by a wide variety of institutions