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. 2021) 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. 2021, 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
Related publications:- 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, Agnes Cornell, M. Steven Fish, Lisa Gastaldi, Haakon Gjerløw, Adam Glynn, Allen Hicken, Anna Lührmann, Seraphine F. Maerz, Kyle L. Marquardt, Kelly McMann, Valeriya Mechkova, Pamela Paxton, Daniel Pemstein, Johannes von Römer, Brigitte Seim, Rachel Sigman, Svend-Erik Skaaning, Jeffrey Staton, Aksel Sundtröm, Eitan Tzelgov, Luca Uberti, Yi-ting Wang, Tore Wig, and Daniel Ziblatt. 2021. "V-Dem Codebook v11.1" 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. 2021. “The V-Dem Measurement Model: Latent Variable Analysis for Cross-National and Cross-Temporal Expert-Coded Data”. V-Dem Working Paper No. 21. 6th edition. University of Gothenburg: Varieties of Democracy Institute.
Misc
Project manager(s): Nils Düpont (A01)
Data release:- Indicator updated with new data based on V-Dem release v11.1 on March 31, 2021
- Not yet applicable
Sources
- Coppedge, Michael, John Gerring, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Staffan I. Lindberg, Jan Teorell, Nazifa Alizada, David Altman, Michael Bernhard, Agnes Cornell, M. Steven Fish, Lisa Gastaldi, Haakon Gjerløw, Adam Glynn, Allen Hicken, Garry Hindle, Nina Ilchenko, Joshua Krusell, Anna Lührmann, Seraphine F. Maerz, Kyle L. Marquardt, Kelly McMann, Valeriya Mechkova, Juraj Medzihorsky, Pamela Paxton, Daniel Pemstein, Josefine Pernes, Johannes von Römer, Brigitte Seim, Rachel Sigman, Svend-Erik Skaaning, Jeffrey Staton, Aksel Sundström, Eitan Tzelgov, Yi-ting Wang, Tore Wig, Steven Wilson and Daniel Ziblatt. 2021. "V-Dem [Country–Year/Country–Date] Dataset v11.1" Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project. https://doi.org/10.23696/vdemds21
