Measuring Democracy : A Bridge Between Scholarship and Politics

by Munck, Gerardo L.

• ISBN13: 9780801890932
• ISBN10: 0801890934
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-02-19
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

Summary

Although democracy is a widely held value, concrete measurement of it is elusive. Gerardo L. Munck's constructive assessment of the methods used to measure democracies promises to bring order to the debate in academia and in practice.Drawing on his years of academic research on democracy and measurement and his practical experience evaluating democratic practices for the United Nations and the Organization of American States, Munck's discussion bridges the theories of academia with practical applications. In proposing a more open and collaborative relationship between theory and action, he makes the case for reassessing how democracy is measured and encourages fundamental changes in methodology. Munck's field-tested framework for quantifying and qualifying democracy is built around two instruments he developed: the UN Development Programme's Electoral Democracy Index and a case-by-case election monitoring tool used by the OAS.Measuring Democracy offers specific, real-world lessons that scholars and practitioners can use to improve the quality and utility of data about democracy.

Author Biography

Gerardo L. Munck is a professor in the School of International Relations at the University of Southern California. He consults regularly on democracy evaluation for international and nongovernmental organizations, including the United Nations and the Organization of American States. Munck is the coauthor of Passion, Craft, and Method in Comparative Politics, also published by Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Bringing Knowledge to Bear on Politics The Uses and Misuses of Data in Democracy Promotion	p. 1
Conceptualizing and Measuring Democracy An Evaluation of Alternative Indices	p. 13
Drawing Boundaries The Crafting of Intermediate Regime Categories	p. 38
Producing and Validating Political Data The Case of the Electoral Democracy Index	p. 53
Assessing Elections A Methodology for Election Observation Missions	p. 86
Revisting Concepts Democracy and Other Political Values	p. 120
Developing Measures Beyond Electoral Democracy	p. 133
Notes	p. 145
References	p. 159
Index	p. 175
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