How Do You Measure ‘Democracy’?

June 26, 2015

It’s an ever-enduring question that has served as the point of debate between political science scholars.

In a new op-ed column published in The Washington Post, Professor Gunitsky examines data on Russian democracy that is presented in Polity IV and Freedom House. Both are well-known and respected democracy indexes, however, questions surrounding the operationalization of their concepts leads to significantly different results.

It’s an excellent and detailed analysis. To read the entire piece, please click here.