Democracy Index Research Articles

Generalized Linear Model Menggunakan Distrbusi Lognormal dan Gamma: Aplikasi Terhadap Indeks Demokrasi Indonesia di Jawa Barat

Generalized Linear Models (GLM) is a statistical approach that generalize linear regression models to handle response variables that are not necessarily normal. This research uses Gamma and Lognormal distributions to analyze the effect of Labor Force Participation Rate, Gini Ratio, and Percentage of Working Population on the Indonesia Democracy Index in West Java during 2021-2023. Both distributions are used and compared using AIC. Some of the results of this research are: 1) Lognormal GLM has a lower AIC, so it is better to use than Gamma GLM. 2) From these two models, obtained the same analysis results, that are Gini Ratio and Percentage of Working Population have a significant effect on Indonesia Democracy Index, with the Gini Ratio having a negative effect and the Percentage of Working Population having a positive effect. This shows that the higher of the Gini Ratio, the lower the Indonesia Democracy Index and vice versa, while the higher of the Percentage of Working Population, the higher the Indonesia Democracy Index and vice versa. 3) Meanwhile the Labor Force Participation Rate does not have a significant effect on the Indonesia Democracy Index. This research can be concluded that reducing social inequality and increasing population participation in employment contribute to improving the quality of democracy in West Java.

DEMOCRATIZATION OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM AT THE REGIONAL AND LOCAL LEVELS IN THE CONTEXT OF DECENTRALIZATION: THE CASE OF FOUR UKRAINIAN REGIONS

This article examines the democratization of the Ukrainian political system at the regional and local levels in the context of decentralization reform. The level of democratization is measured using the Tatu Vanhanen measurement method (Tatu Vanhanen Index), which is a mathematical formula for multiplying the percentage of votes not received by the ruling party (coalition of parties) in regional and local elections to representative bodies by the percentage of voter turnout. For the study, four regions of Ukraine were selected: Lviv region, Kharkiv region, Kherson region and Chernihiv region, as well as their administrative centres, meeting both the criteria of geographical location (north, south, west, east), population size (large regions, with a population of several million people, as well as small regions, with a population of less than 1 million people), as well as traditional political preferences of a significant part of citizens (relatively “pro-European” and relatively “pro-Russian”). The study showed that in most of the regions we studied, the democracy index decreased after the start of the reform, but then increased again after the next electoral cycle. Most of the regions we studied have similar dynamics of changes in the democracy index over three electoral cycles. Secondly, the study found that in most of the studied regions, the democracy index at the regional level as a whole is slightly higher than the democracy index at the level of their administrative centres. The exception, in both cases, is the Kharkiv region and Kharkiv, which have a trend directly opposite to other regions. The study concludes with a recommendation to reevaluate the level of democracy at the regional and local levels after the next local elections, to gain a more objective dynamic picture.

Modus Operandi of the Erosion of the Rule of Law in Poland – Experience in 2015–2023

The author of this article attempts to diagnose the changes in Polish constitutional democracy taking place in 2015–2023, and at the same time tries to select and catalogue violations of systemic practice, leading to the erosion of the rule of law, ultimately resulting in the recognition of Polish constitutional democracy as a defective democracy in 2023 (according to the Global Democracy Index). It presents the circumstances and secretive behaviours of the ruling elite of this period, including changes in the area of the judiciary, including the constitutional judiciary, remodelling of the control of the correctness of the electoral process, changes and politicization of the electoral administration and the prosecutor’s office, politicization of an independent public broadcaster with the introduction of newspeak and brutalization of the public language, adoption of the facade role of the parliament, as well as violation of the standards of transparency and political corruption leading to the formation of constitutional decision making, detached from – it seemed – the well-established constitutional identity with its fundamental values defining it.

Political Regimes, Religious Dominance, and Economic Preferences: Insights from the World Values Survey and Global State of Democracy Indices

ABSTRACTObjectiveThis research explores how political regimes, individual incomes, and religious dominance influence societies' attitudes toward freedom, equality, and income inequality. This work applies an empirical framework on political regimes and socio‐religious contexts to study the impacts of political regimes and socioeconomic variables on individual beliefs about freedom, equality, and income inequality.MethodsUtilizing data from the World Values Survey (WVS) along with the Global State of Democracy (GSoD) indices, the study employs a two‐stage regression model to control for issues of endogeneity. This approach helps to understand differences in preferences for freedom and equality under democratic, authoritarian, and hybrid regimes, along with the influence of income and religious dominance.FindingsThe results show that democratic regimes prioritize equality, especially among the poor and members of non‐dominant religious groups. Under authoritarian regimes, however, high‐income populations tend to favour freedom. Hybrid regimes exhibit varied tendencies, with both income status and religious dominance significantly influencing perceptions of equality.ConclusionThis research contributes to understanding how political, economic, and religious factors shape societal preferences. The results provide insights into the complex interplay between governance, socioeconomic conditions, and individual preferences.

Impact of Public Infrastructure Spending and Institutions on Economic Growth in Côte d’Ivoire: Results and Implications

This study uses annual data from 1984 to 2019 for the Côte d’Ivoire to estimate the effects of public infrastructure spending, institutions, institutional shocks and their multiplicative effect on economic growth. We construct three institutional indices and interaction variables to estimate linear and nonlinear AutoRegressive Distributed lag models (ARDL). The results reveal symmetric effects of institutional shocks to democracy and regulation and conflict prevention and asymmetric effects of institutional shocks to investment promotion and the economy. The institutional index for the conflict prevention dimension is favourable to economic growth, while the other institutional dimensions remain insignificant. The institutional index of democracy and regulation amplifies the positive effects of public spending on infrastructure on per capita income in the long term. The institutional indices of investment and economic promotion and conflict prevention reduce the positive effect of public infrastructure spending on per capita income. Public debt and domestic savings have effects on per capita income. These results imply that improving institutions, particularly those promoting investment and the economy, is crucial to amplifying the benefits of public infrastructure investment in Côte d’Ivoire.

The cyclicality of fiscal policy during Covid-19 pandemic in the OIC countries

The purpose of this research is to explore the cyclical behavior of fiscal policy during Covid-19 pandemic in 42 countries under Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Most of the OIC countries experienced doubled fiscal deficit along with slower growth during this unprecedented pandemic, which then led them to deal with an increase in debt burden. We use fixed effect panel estimation procedure to investigate macroeconomic determinants of fiscal deficits. The paper focused on secondary data of the democracy index, population, GDP growth, FDI, inflation, interest rate, current account balance, grant and expenditure variables between 2001 to 2022 period. The study revealed that macroeconomic variables determine the fiscal deficit, while good governance which is represented by the voice accountability and democracy index don’t. Further analysis showed that public participation, government accountability, and the democracy index strengthen the relationship between government spending and FDI in dealing with fiscal deficits. However, if good governance has interacted with the current account balance and grant funds, it turns out to have a significant negative effect. The findings are appropriate for the OIC country’s decision-makers to incorporate the need for recovery funds and fiscal deficit policy.

A democratic approach to religion news: Newspaper coverage of Christianity and Islam in the UK and Turkey

ABSTRACT This paper introduces and utilizes a systematic and unified four-dimension democratic approach to the study of newspaper religion reporting to examine the coverage of faith, particularly Christianity and Islam, in the British and Turkish national press. While the research employs a sample from 2014 and uses framing analysis through content analysis of 1,022 news articles supplemented by qualitative examples, this democratic approach crosses time and country boundaries. The findings reveal that, in both countries, alongside the contrasting portrayals of the minority religions, even the dominant religions had disproportioned employment of the four dimensions: spiritual, world life, political, and conflict. The spiritual dimension had limited use in both countries, particularly in the UK. There was significantly less employment of context for putting faith in action in the reporting of Christians in the world life dimension in the UK compared to the coverage of Muslims in Turkey. The results suggest a potential, though untested, application of this approach as a democracy index against which the press can improve its faith coverage. This study’s theoretical and methodological contribution to scholarship outweighs its empirical findings in the fields of religion in the news, comparative journalism studies, and empirical research on news media’s democratic performance.

The weight of office? A scoping review of mental health issues and risk factors in elected politicians across democratic societies.

The mental health and capacity to govern of democratically-elected politicians have become burgeoning topics of interest. Notably, in fulfilling demanding and high-stress roles, political officeholders could encounter distinctive risk factors, yet existing research literature about these subpopulations remains underexplored. This scoping review aimed to systematically examine the breadth of available evidence on mental health issues and risk factors affecting democratically-elected politicians internationally and to identify future research needs. Using pre-defined eligibility criteria based on JBI guidelines, a systematic keyword search was conducted in May 2024 of MEDLINE, Scopus, and APA PsycNet, supplemented by snowballing techniques. Only those studies reporting primary, empirical evidence on mental ill-health or risk factors with psychological correlates from serving politicians in "Full" or "Flawed" democracies (per Democracy Index) were included from 1999 to 2024. Titles and abstracts were screened and the full-texts of potentially eligible literature were assessed before extraction and synthesis. Eighteen sources met the eligibility criteria, cumulatively encompassing ~3,500 national, state, and municipal politicians across seven democracies (Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States). Cross-sectional surveys were predominantly utilized, with lesser use of mixed-methods approaches, qualitative interviews, and longitudinal cohorts. Violence emerged as a key concept, with twelve sources (66.7%) underlining its psychological toll and certain data indicating a disproportionate impact on female officeholders. Furthermore, four sources (22.2%) explored general psychopathology trends, revealing varying but sizeable mental ill-health and high-risk alcohol consumption rates, and two studies (11.1%) demonstrated adverse effects from specific occupational conditions. Current literature suggests that democratically-elected politicians can face complex mental health challenges. However, significant research gaps remain, including a paucity of prevalence estimates, longitudinal data, and intervention studies. Equally, the underrepresentation of most democratic countries accentuates the need for a more diverse evidence-base to better support the mental wellbeing of politicians worldwide.

A Cross-national Study on How Corruption Affects Happiness

Abstract: Corruption and subjective well-being are of interest to scholars, governments, and legislators. The study builds on existing literature that explores the interplay between economic, cultural, and political factors and happiness, with a particular focus on the less-examined role of governance quality, as measured by corruption levels. While scholars generally see corruption as a predictor of happiness, the direction of that effect is unclear. Using cross-national data from 133 countries, this paper investigates the impact of corruption on individuals happiness. Employing an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis, the research controls for other critical variables such as GDP, democracy index, and education, and tests the hypothesis that lower corruption is associated with higher happiness. The perceived corruption is statistically significant on predicting happiness when it is solely considered, but the situation changed when controlling GDP. The paper reveals that economy plays important role as a intervening variables between corruption and happiness. The paper is a helpful guides for policymakers and governments in making effective anti-corruption measures for enhancing happiness at a national level.

Democracy, Dictatorship and People’s Beliefs: Evidence from the World Value Longitudinal Survey

The relationship between economic outcomes and political institutions is a topic of extensive debate. Political institutions influence not only economic results but also societal norms and beliefs. This study utilizes two global datasets, the World Values Longitudinal Survey and the Global State of Democracy Index from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, alongside economic data to examine how beliefs and values vary across different political regimes. This study has three main findings. First, political regimes significantly alter individuals' perspectives on the trade-off between equality and freedom. Specifically, under authoritarian regimes, individuals with higher incomes tend to prioritize freedom over equality more than those with lower incomes do. Second, across various regime types, individuals in higher-income categories consistently exhibit less concern for income equality than those in lower-income categories do. Third, within democratic regimes, individuals with lower incomes consistently prioritize income equality over their higher-income counterparts, regardless of regime type. These findings underscore the dynamic interplay between political institutions and societal values, highlighting how political regimes shape individual beliefs about equality, freedom, and economic fairness.

Technical Innovations and Social Implications: Mapping Global Research Focus in AI, Blockchain, Cybersecurity, and Privacy

This study examines the balance between technical and social focus in artificial intelligence, blockchain, cybersecurity, and privacy publications in Web of Science across countries, exploring the social factors that influence these research priorities. We use regression analysis to identify predictors of research focus and cluster analysis to reveal patterns across countries, combining these methods to provide a broader view of global research priorities. Our findings reveal that liberal democracy index, life expectancy, and happiness are significant predictors of research focus, while traditional indicators like education and income show weaker relationships. This unexpected result challenges conventional assumptions about the drivers of research priorities in digital technologies. The study identifies distinct clusters of countries with similar patterns of research focus across the four technologies, revealing previously unrecognized global typologies. Notably, more democratic societies tend to emphasize social implications of technologies, while some rapidly developing countries focus more on technical aspects. These findings suggest that political and social factors may play a larger role in shaping research agendas than previously thought, necessitating a re-evaluation of how we understand and predict research focus in rapidly evolving technological fields. The study provides valuable information for policymakers and researchers, informing strategies for technological development and international collaboration in an increasingly digital world.

The principal components of electoral regimes: separating autocracies from pseudo-democracies.

A critical issue for society today is the emergence and decline of democracy worldwide. It is unclear, however, how democratic features, such as elections and civil liberties, influence this change. Democracy indices, which are the standard tool to study this question, are based on the a priori assumption that improvement in any individual feature strengthens democracy overall. We show that this assumption does not always hold. We use the V-Dem dataset for a quantitative study of electoral regimes worldwide during the twentieth century. We find a so-far overlooked trade-off between election capability and civil liberties. In particular, we identify a threshold in the democratization process at which the correlation between election capability and civil liberties flips from negative to positive. Below this threshold, we can thus clearly separate two kinds of non-democratic regimes: autocracies that govern through tightly controlled elections and regimes in which citizens are free but under less certainty-a distinction that existing democracy indices cannot make.

The economic impact of terrorism in South Asia

This study examines the economic impact of terrorism in South Asia. The region is currently home to 123 active terrorist/insurgent groups and is accountable for over 27 % of recorded global terrorist attacks. The annual data from the six most-terror-affected South Asian countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) during the US-led war on terror (2001 - 2022) is used. For econometric estimation, the five models: fixed-effect, generalized least squares (GLS), generalized estimating equation (GEE), quantile regression (QR), and panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE) are applied. Terror-related death (a proxy for human capital loss) and per capita income (a proxy for purchasing power) are considered to measure terrorism and its economic impact. In addition, four economic indicators (military expenditure, population, official development assistance (ODA), and USAID) and three institutional indicators (electoral democracy index, political violence index, and mobilization for autocracy index) are taken into account as control variables. The result suggests that every additional 886 terror-related human capital loss across the region significantly reduces the purchasing power of each South Asian person by at least 9.800 US dollars. Moreover, among the control variables, military expenditure, political violence, and mobilization for autocracy negatively affect per capita income, while electoral democracy, population, ODA, and USAID positively impact it. This study will also help understand the implications of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda and achieving specific targets such as SDG 8 (promoting economic growth) and SDG 16 (promoting just, peaceful, and inclusive societies) based on the most terror-affected region.

Present Scenario of Post-poll Alliance in India

India is one of the greatest democracies in the World, however, the 2021 Economic Intelligence Unit ranked India at 46th position on Democracy Index with a score of 6.91. Such low ranking of in Democracy Index shows the mirror to changing opportunistic political culture prevailing in India. Free and fair election is the basis of any democracy where the government is formed as per the mandate of the voters. However, recent years in Indian polity has seen the increase in the trend of post poll alliance which provides the opportunity to form government by bypassing the public mandate. This left voters in a state of confusion where they are left uncertain of their role in democracy. The increasing trend of post poll alliances is a severe challenge to democracy which cannot be dealt with existing election laws. The present scenario of Indian politics demands the formulation of new laws to put a stop to this unethical practice of opportunistic politics

The impact of democracy on peace in Africa: Empirical evidence

AbstractThe nexus between democracy and peace in Africa is examined by applying data to 42 sub‐Saharan African (SSA) countries between 2008 and 2020. The study used panel regression techniques that include Ordinary Least Squares, the Tobit regression to account for the limited range of the dependent variable, and the System Generalized Method of Moments to account for endogeneity bias. Using seven indicators of democracy, which include electoral democracy, liberal democracy, participatory democracy, deliberative democracy, egalitarian democracy, a total democracy index derived from principal component analysis, and the Polity2 score, and using the global peace index as a proxy for peace, our findings show that all the indicators of democracy, irrespective of the model, have a positive and significant influence on peace in SSA. The result has underscored the importance of advancing democratic practices and values to promote sustainable peace and stability in the region.Related ArticlesAntwi‐Boateng, Osman. 2015. “No Spring in Africa: How Sub‐Saharan Africa Has Avoided the Arab Spring Phenomenon.” Politics & Policy 43(5): 754–84. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12129.Asongu, Simplice A., Cheikh T. Ndour, and Judith C. M. Ngoungou. 2024. “The Effects of Gender Political Inclusion and Democracy on Environmental Performance: Evidence from the Method of Moments by Quantile Regression.” Politics & Policy, 52(1), 118–39. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12576.Ryan, Susannah. 2015. “White Gold and Troubled Waters in Southern Africa: Hydropolitical Policy's Effect on Peace in Lesotho and South Africa.” Politics & Policy 4(2): 239–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12114.

Civil Society in Providing the Development of Democracy in the Countries of the Eurasian Economic Union

This study aims to explore the influence of civil society on the level of democracy in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and propose mechanisms to enhance civil society formation for strengthening democratic processes. A comprehensive review of scholarly literature on civil society and its relationship with democratic development was conducted, alongside an analysis of the unique characteristics of EAEU member countries. Comparative assessments were made to determine the extent of civil society development, as measured by the Civil Society Participation Index, and the characteristics of democratic procedures, as measured by the Democracy Index. The findings indicate a link between civil society strength and democratic advancement. Specifically, countries with robust civil societies, such as the Republic of Armenia and the Kyrgyz Republic, demonstrate higher levels of democratic development. This underscores civil society’s role as a catalyst for political and social transformations and state-building processes.

Partisan differences in perceived levels of democracy across presidential administrations

Democracy in the United States is in decline. The current work examines to what degree U.S. Americans perceive this decline in the U.S., and how partisanship may shape those perceptions over time. Using cross-sectional archival data spanning three U.S. presidential administrations (Study 1), we find that perceived levels of democracy by U.S. Americans on both sides of the political spectrum were not attuned to objective democracy indices but instead followed a partisan gap where election winners perceived higher levels of democracy than election losers. Using a longitudinal quasi-experiment tracking the 2020 presidential election (Study 2), we find that the effect of partisanship on perceived levels of democracy kicked in right after the announcement of the election winner but was the strongest after the official inauguration. Moreover, Trump supporters showed heterogeneous responses to the Capitol attack, which highlights the possibility of bipartisan willingness to defend democracy after salient attacks on democratic principles. We discuss the implications of the effect of partisanship on perceptions of democracy.

Is there a quantitative relationship between democracy and official statistics?

The main purpose of this article is to show the quantitative relationship between political regimes and the quality of the national statistical systems. The data exploratory analysis, usually treated from a qualitative point of view, shows a strong correlation between democracy and official statistics, a thesis confirmed in all continents. The most democratic countries are the ones with the best statistical performance. In fact, among the top 10 democracies, five are also in the top 10 for statistical performance. The correlation between democracy and statistical performance is about 70 percent, although over the years 2016–2022, it has been slightly decreasing. The country’s statistical performance is affected by political regime. The main indicators employed for this analysis are the Democracy Index by The Economist, and the Statistical Performance Indicators by the World Bank. The use of these global indicators, encompassing an entire range of years and countries, is unusual in statistical analysis.

Complementing electoral democracy assessment: The Plebiscitary Electoral Democracy Index and its application to the Andean Community, 2003–2022

AbstractThis study employs the V‐Dem database and proposes an alternative calculation of the regular Electoral Democracy Index by incorporating the Direct Popular Vote Index, a component of the Participatory Democracy Index. The result is the creation of the Plebiscitary Electoral Democracy Index. To validate this index proposal, the article conducts an empirical test focusing on the Andean Community countries over the past two decades that compares the existing Electoral Democracy Index with the new proposed index from 2003 to 2022. The findings reveal that the proposed index reflects a consistently lower level of democracy than that measured by the Electoral Democracy Index across all Andean cases. This research shows how incorporating participation indicators in assessing electoral democracy reveals distinct conclusions regarding the state of democracy than those from the previously established Electoral Democracy Index. The comparatively lower levels of democracy emphasize the importance of incorporating a participatory dimension in the Electoral Democracy Index to develop a more comprehensive and regionally nuanced approach to measuring democracy that can be applied to understand better the evolution of democracy everywhere.

Vietnam in the democratization process: Dynamics from the process of international integration and the development of information-communication technology

This article delves into the complex dynamics of Vietnam’s democratization process, highlighting the simultaneous influences of international integration and advancements in science and technology. This study investigates the impact of Vietnam’s increasing involvement in the global economy and international community, as well as its adoption of technological advancements, on the country’s path toward democratization. The study utilizes a mixed approach, blending qualitative analysis of scientific documents, Vietnamese government policies, and quantitative data on the democracy index from international organizations. It identifies international integration as a double edged sword: on one hand, it boosts economic growth and development, driving the democratic transition process forward; on the other hand, it also leads to economic dependence and inequality, potentially impeding democratic reform. The findings of this study show that the rapid progress of science and technology, especially information and communication technology, presents both opportunities and difficulties for Vietnam’s democratic process. It provides unparalleled opportunities for widespread involvement in political activities and the spread of democratic principles, but it also carries the risk of social unrest and the potential for the authoritarian state to control and manipulate information.