"Normal Democracies" and Improving How They Are Measured: The Case of Russia

Abstract

Debates over whether Russia is unique or like other countries have a long history. Responding to current work on that question, especially Andrei Shleifer and Daniel Treisman's argument, a political scientist examines ways to identify and specify in regard to what and compared with which other cohorts of states Russia may be considered normal. Three aggregate data sets, from PolityIV, the World Bank Institute's Voice and Accountability project, and Freedom House, along with individuallevel data from the World Values Survey, are used to assess possible links between the nature of the economy and the nature of the political system. The article explores how normal states—in particular, normal democracies—are identified.