Measuring Democracy
Author | : Gerardo L. Munck |
Publisher | : JHU Press |
Total Pages | : 202 |
Release | : 2009-04-15 |
ISBN-10 | : 9780801890932 |
ISBN-13 | : 0801890934 |
Rating | : 4/5 (32 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: Drawing on years of academic research on democracy and measurement and practical experience evaluating democratic practices for the United Nations and the Organization of American States, the author presents constructive assessment of the methods used to measure democracies that promises to bring order to the debate in academia and in practice. He makes the case for reassessing how democracy is measured and encourages fundamental changes in methodology. He has developed two instruments for quantifying and qualifying democracy: the UN Development Programme's Electoral Democracy Index and a case-by-case election monitoring tool used by the OAS.