Liberal democracy index
| Quick info | |
|---|---|
| Data type | Numeric |
| Scale | Metric |
| Value labels | Not applicable |
| Technical name | polnat_polity_democ_libdem_vdem |
| Category | Political factors |
| Label | Liberal democracy index |
| Related indicators | |
The "Liberal democracy index" is part of V-Dem's high level democracy indices capturing features of democracy at the most abstract level. The "Liberal democracy index" in particular captures to what extent the ideal of liberal democracy is achieved. It ranges from low (0) to high (1).
Conceptually, it is defined as follows: "The liberal component of democracy embodies the intrinsic value of protecting individual and minority rights against potential 'tyranny of the majority' and state repression more generally. This is achieved through constitutionally protected civil liberties, a strong rule of law, and effective checks and balances that limit the use of executive power" (Coppedge et al. 2016, 582).
Coding rules
The index is composed of several components and lower-level indices applying V-Dem's measurement model (Pemstein et al. 2019) which in turn are indices built from a number of indicators. The index itself is "the mean of three BFAs [Bayesian factor analyses] tapping into (1) equality before the law and individual liberty (v2x_rol, based on 14 indicators); (2) judicial constraints on the executive (v2x_jucon, based on 5 indicators); and (3) legislative constraints on the executive (v2x_legcon, based on 4 indicators)" (Coppedge et al. 2016, 582-3) [emphasis in original; note that variable names in italics refer to V-Dem's nomenclature in their dataset, not in WeSIS].
For the exact index aggregation formula see Coppedge et al. 2019, Appendix A.
Bibliographic info
Citation: Coppedge, Michael, Staffan Lindberg, Svend-Erik Skaaning, Jan Teorell. 2016. "Measuring high level democratic principles using the V-Dem data". International Political Science Review 37 (2): 580-593. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512115622046
- Coppedge, Michael, Staffan I. Lindberg, Svend-Erik Skaaning and Jan Teorell. 2015. "Measuring High Level Democratic Principles using the V-Dem Data". V-Dem Working Paper No. 6. University of Gothenburg: Varieties of Democracy Institute.
- Coppedge, Michael, John Gerring, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Staffan I. Lindberg, Jan Teorell, David Altman, Michael Bernhard, M. Steven Fish, Adam Glynn, Allen Hicken, Anna Lührmann, Kyle L. Marquardt, Kelly McMann, Pamela Paxton, Daniel Pemstein, Brigitte Seim, Rachel Sigman, Svend-Erik Skaaning, Jeffrey Staton, Agnes Cornell, Lisa Gastaldi, Haakon Gjerløw, Valeriya Mechkova, Johannes von Römer, Aksel Sundtröm, Eitan Tzelgov, Luca Uberti, Yi-ting Wang, Tore Wig, and Daniel Ziblatt. 2019. "V-Dem Codebook v9". Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project.
- Pemstein, Daniel, Kyle L. Marquardt, Eitan Tzelgov, Yi-ting Wang, Juraj Medzihorsky, Joshua Krusell, Farhad Miri, and Johannes von Römer. 2019. "The V-Dem Measurement Model: Latent Variable Analysis for Cross-National and Cross-Temporal Expert-Coded Data". V-Dem Working Paper No. 21. 4th edition. University of Gothenburg: Varieties of Democracy Institute.
Misc
Project manager(s): Nils Düpont (A01)
- Not yet applicable
- Not yet applicable
Sources
- Coppedge, Michael, John Gerring, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Staffan I. Lindberg, Jan Teorell, David Altman, Michael Bernhard, M. Steven Fish, Adam Glynn, Allen Hicken, Anna Lührmann, Kyle L. Marquardt, Kelly McMann, Pamela Paxton, Daniel Pemstein, Brigitte Seim, Rachel Sigman, Svend-Erik Skaaning, Jeffrey Staton, Steven Wilson, Agnes Cornell, Lisa Gastaldi, Haakon Gjerløw, Nina Ilchenko, Joshua Krusell, Laura Maxwell, Valeriya Mechkova, Juraj Medzihorsky, Josefine Pernes, Johannes von Römer, Natalia Stepanova, Aksel Sundström, Eitan Tzelgov, Yi-ting Wang, Tore Wig, and Daniel Ziblatt. 2019. "V-Dem Country-Year Dataset v9". Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project. https://doi.org/10.23696/vdemcy19
