IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/poango/v6y2018i1p22-32.html

Conceptualizing and Measuring the Quality of Democracy: The Citizens’ Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Dieter Fuchs

    (Department of Social Science, University of Stuttgart, Germany)

  • Edeltraud Roller

    (Department of Political Science, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany)

Abstract

In recent years, several measurements of the quality of democracy have been developed (e.g. Democracy Barometer, Varieties of Democracy Project). These objective measurements focus on institutional and procedural characteristics of democracy. This article starts from the premise that in order to fully understand the quality of democracy such objective measurements have to be complemented by subjective measurements based on the perspective of citizens. The aim of the article is to conceptualize and measure the subjective quality of democracy. First, a conceptualization of the subjective quality of democracy is developed consisting of citizens’ support for three normative models of democracy (electoral, liberal, and direct democracy). Second, based on the World Values Survey 2005–2007, an instrument measuring these different dimensions of the subjective quality of democracy is suggested. Third, distributions for different models of democracy are presented for some European and non-European liberal democracies. They reveal significant differences regarding the subjective quality of democracies. Fourth, the subjective quality of democracy of these countries is compared with the objective quality of democracy based on three indices (electoral democracy, liberal democracy and direct popular vote) developed by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project. Finally, further research questions are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Dieter Fuchs & Edeltraud Roller, 2018. "Conceptualizing and Measuring the Quality of Democracy: The Citizens’ Perspective," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(1), pages 22-32.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:22-32
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.v6i1.1188
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/1188
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/pag.v6i1.1188?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Easton, David, 1975. "A Re-assessment of the Concept of Political Support," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(4), pages 435-457, October.
    2. Merkel, Wolfgang, 2004. "Embedded and defective democracies," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 11(5), pages 33-58.
    3. Mayne, Quinton & Geissel, Brigitte, 2016. "Putting the Demos Back Into the Concept of Democratic Quality," Scholarly Articles 25286593, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qing Deng & Mengjiao Yao & Hui Zhang & Feng Yu & Lida Huang & Yaping Ma, 2024. "Constructing a cross-field scenario system to aware systemic risk: national security as an example," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 120(2), pages 1899-1923, January.
    2. Heiko Giebler & Saskia P. Ruth & Dag Tanneberg, 2018. "Why Choice Matters: Revisiting and Comparing Measures of Democracy," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(1), pages 1-10.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dieter Fuchs & Edeltraud Roller, 2018. "Conceptualizing and Measuring the Quality of Democracy: The Citizens’ Perspective," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(1), pages 22-32.
    2. Johannes Helgest & Lion Merten & Jana Niedringhaus & Matthias Rosenthal & Kevin Walz, 2022. "A new game in town: Democratic resilience and the added value of the concept in explaining democratic survival and decline," Working Papers 2206, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    3. Bünte, Marco, 2011. "Burma's Transition to "Disciplined Democracy": Abdication or Institutionalization of Military Rule?," GIGA Working Papers 177, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    4. Delhey, Jan & Tobsch, Verena, 2000. "Understanding regime support in new democracies: does politics really matter more than economics?," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Social Structure and Social Reporting FS III 00-403, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    5. Julian Aichholzer & Sylvia Kritzinger & Carolina Plescia, 2021. "National identity profiles and support for the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 22(2), pages 293-315, June.
    6. Gründler, Klaus & Krieger, Tommy, 2022. "Should we care (more) about data aggregation?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    7. Lourdes ROJAS RUBIO, 2022. "Inequality, Corruption and Support for Democracy," Thema Working Papers 2022-20, THEMA (Théorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), CY Cergy-Paris University, ESSEC and CNRS.
    8. Emiliana De Blasio & Lorenzo Viviani, 2020. "Platform Party between Digital Activism and Hyper-Leadership: The Reshaping of the Public Sphere," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(4), pages 16-27.
    9. Fuchs, Dieter, 1993. "A metatheory of the democratic process," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Institutions and Social Change FS III 93-203, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    10. Soetkin Verhaegen & Marc Hooghe & Ellen Quintelier, 2014. "European Identity and Support for European Integration: A Matter of Perceived Economic Benefits?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 295-314, May.
    11. Merkel, Wolfgang, 2026. "What is democratic resilience?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 472-493.
    12. Ekkart Zimmermann, 2009. "Formen des politischen Terrorismus: ein Plädoyer für eine Differentialdiagnose," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 78(4), pages 11-28.
    13. Erica Poma & Barbara Pistoresi, 2024. "Government Support Measures, Trust in Institutions and Effects on Satisfaction with Democracy During the COVID-19 Outbreak," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 66(2), pages 355-387, June.
    14. Arjan H Schakel & A J Brown, 2022. "Dissecting Public Opinion on Regional Authority: Four Types of Regionalists Based on Citizens’ Preferences for Self-Rule and Shared Rule," Publius: The Journal of Federalism, CSF Associates Inc., vol. 52(2), pages 310-328.
    15. repec:gig:joupla:v:3:y:2011:i:1:p:29-64 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Delhey, Jan, 2002. "Korruption in Bewerberländern zur Europäischen Union: Institutionenqualität und Korruption in vergleichender Perspektive," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Social Structure and Social Reporting FS III 02-401, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    17. Michal Parizek, 2025. "Less in the West: The tangibility of international organizations and their media visibility around the world," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 795-824, December.
    18. Michal Madr, 2016. "Economic Development as a Factor of Democratisation: Evidence from Post-Socialist Economies," MENDELU Working Papers in Business and Economics 2016-70, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    19. Stroh, Alexander & Elischer, Sebastian & Erdmann, Gero, 2012. "Origins and Outcomes of Electoral Institutions in African Hybrid Regimes: A Comparative Perspective," GIGA Working Papers 197, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies.
    20. Wagner, Alexander F. & Schneider, Friedrich & Halla, Martin, 2009. "The quality of institutions and satisfaction with democracy in Western Europe -- A panel analysis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 30-41, March.
    21. Zhichao Li & Xihan Tan, 2018. "Revitalization of Trust in Local Government after Wenchuan Earthquake: Constraints and Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v6:y:2018:i:1:p:22-32. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.