The Democracy Barometer: A New Instrument to Measure the Quality of Democracy and its Potential for Comparative Research

Bühlmann, Marc; Merkel, Wolfgang; Müller, Lisa; Weßels, Bernhard

doi:10.1057/eps.2011.46

Cited by 160 publications

(131 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…NNCR similarly concludes in one of its reports: "Contrary to the contemporary political discourse, the results show that there is no evidence of an overall crisis or a decline in the quality of democracy" (Bühlmann, M. et al, 2011). These examples illustrate the important divergences between several institutes, authors and citizens when talking about the quality of democracy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Do Politicians Serve the One Percent? Evidence from OECD Countries

Torija

2013

SSRN Journal

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Do Politicians Serve the One Percent? Evidence from OECD Countries

Torija

2013

SSRN Journal

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“…The country-level evaluations of democracy based on the ESS are contrasted with three system-level measures of democracy: the Unified Democracy Scores (Pemstein et al, 2010), the Democracy Barometer (Bühlmann et al, 2012), and the Democracy Ranking (Campbell, 2008). The Unified Democracy Scores synthesize 10 existing measures of democracy to improve the overall measurement.…”

Section: Validationmentioning

confidence: 99%

How citizens evaluate democracy: an assessment using the European Social Survey

Quaranta

2017

Eur. Pol. Sci. Rev.

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How do citizens evaluate democracy? Previous literature trying to address this question has often relied on single indicators to assess citizens' assessment of democracy. This article contributes to this debate by using multiple indicators measuring different attributes to find a summary measure of citizens' evaluations of democracy. Using the special module of the sixth round of the European Social Survey 'Europeans' understandings and evaluations of democracy' and applying Bayesian factor analysis with country random effects, this article tests whether multiple indicators form an underlying trait measuring citizens' evaluations of democracy. It finds the scores of this measure at the individual and country levels and validates this measure against other measures built at the system level, including the 'satisfaction with democracy' indicator, also illustrating its functioning as a dependent and an independent variable.

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“…The Democracy Barometer project categorises and assesses qualities of democracy across 30 'established' democracies judging each case in relation to 3 'principles' and nine 'functions' including 'freedom' (individual liberties, rule of law, public sphere), 'control' (competition, mutual constraints, Governmental capability), and 'equality' (transparency, participation, representation) (Bühlmann, Merkel, Müller, & Weßels, 2011). Countries are ranked accordingly, and again provide a stark contrast between the UK and Germany where Germany is ranked 11 th scoring 73.2 and the UK is ranked at number 26 with a score of 44.6 (Hall, 2011).…”

Section: Democracy Barometer Rankingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing Nuclear Power Trajectories in Germany and the UK: From 'Regimes' to 'Democracies' in Sociotechnical Transitions and Discontinuities

Johnstone

Stirling

2015

SSRN Journal

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SWPS 2015-18 ( June) DisclaimerThe works available here are the responsibility of the individual author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of other SPRU researchers. As matters of policy and practice, SPRU does not endorse individual research contributions. Guidelines for authorsPapers shall be submitted in pdf or Word format. They should contain a title, an abstract, and keywords. Papers should be submitted to one of the Editors, who will process them and send them to the appropriate Associate Editor. Two members of SPRU will be asked to provide a short written review within three weeks. The revised versions of the paper, together with a reply to the reviewers, should be sent to the Associate Editor, who will propose to the Editors its publication on the series. When submitting the authors should indicate if the paper has already undergone peer-reviewing, in which case the Associate Editors may decide to skip internal review process. AbstractThis paper focuses on arguably the single most striking contrast in contemporary major energy politics in Europe (and even the developed world as a whole): the starkly differing civil nuclear policies of Germany and the UK. Germany is seeking entirely to phase out nuclear power by 2022. Yet the UK advocates a 'nuclear renaissance', promoting the most ambitious new nuclear construction programme in Western Europe. Here, this paper poses a simple yet quite fundamental question: what are the particular divergent conditions most strongly implicated in the contrasting developments in these two countries. With nuclear playing such an iconic role in historical discussions over technological continuity and transformation, answering this may assist in wider understandings of sociotechnical incumbency and discontinuity in the burgeoning field of 'sustainability transitions'. To this end, an 'abductive' approach is taken: deploying nine potentially relevant criteria for understanding the different directions pursued in Germany and the UK. Together constituted by 30 parameters spanning literatures related to socio-technical regimes in general as well as nuclear technology in particular, the criteria are divided into those that are 'internal' and 'external' to the 'focal regime configuration' of nuclear power and associated 'challenger technologies' like renewables. It is 'internal' criteria that are emphasised in conventional sociotechnical regime theory, with 'external' criteria relatively less well explored. Asking under each criterion whether attempted discontinuation of nuclear power would be more likely in Germany or the UK, a clear picture emerges. 'Internal' criteria suggest attempted nuclear discontinuation should be more likely in the UK than in Germany -the reverse of what is occurring. 'External' criteria are more aligned with observed dynamics -especially those relating to military nuclear commitments and broader 'qualities of democracy'. Despite many differences of framing concerning exactly what constitutes 'democracy', a rich political science literature on t...

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The Democracy Barometer: A New Instrument to Measure the Quality of Democracy and its Potential for Comparative Research

Cited by 160 publications

References 67 publications

Do Politicians Serve the One Percent? Evidence from OECD Countries

Do Politicians Serve the One Percent? Evidence from OECD Countries

How citizens evaluate democracy: an assessment using the European Social Survey

Comparing Nuclear Power Trajectories in Germany and the UK: From 'Regimes' to 'Democracies' in Sociotechnical Transitions and Discontinuities

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