Varieties of Democracy: Measuring Two Centuries of Political Change

Description

Varieties of Democracy is the essential user's guide to The Varieties of Democracy project (V-Dem), one of the most ambitious data collection efforts in comparative politics. This global research collaboration sparked a dramatic change in how we study the nature, causes, and consequences of democracy. This book is ambitious in scope: more than a reference guide, it raises standards for causal inferences in democratization research and introduces new, measurable, concepts of democracy and many political institutions. Varieties of Democracy enables anyone interested in democracy - teachers, students, journalists, activists, researchers and others - to analyze V-Dem data in new and exciting ways. This book creates opportunities for V-Dem data to be used in education, research, news analysis, advocacy, policy work, and elsewhere. V-Dem is rapidly becoming the preferred source for democracy data.

Michael Coppedge is Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, and co-Principal Investigator of Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). He is the author of Democratization and Research Methods (Cambridge, 2012). John Gerring is Professor of Government at the University of Texas, Austin, and co-Principal Investigator of Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). His work extends across comparative politics, political history, and methodology. Adam Glynn is Associate Professor of Political Science and Quantitative Theory and Methods at Emory University, Atlanta, and Project Manager for Methodology of Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). His research examines causal inference and sampling/survey designs for political science applications. Carl Henrik Knutsen is Professor of Political Science at Universitetet i Oslo, and co-Principal Investigator of Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). His research examines the economic effects of political institutions and regimes, policy-making in autocracies, and processes of regime change. Staffan I. Lindberg is Director of the V-Dem Institute and Professor of Political Science at Goeteborgs Universitet, Sweden, and co-Principal Investigator of Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). His research examines topics ranging from elections, democratization, and civil society, to women's representation and voting behavior. Daniel Pemstein is Associate Professor of Political Science at North Dakota State University, and Project Manager for Measurement Methods of the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). He specializes in measurement and builds statistical tools to study political institutions, parties, and careers. Brigitte Seim is Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Project Manager for Experiments of Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). Her research examines the relationship between citizens and political officials. Svend-Erik Skaaning is Professor of Political Science at Aarhus Universitet, Denmark, and Project Manager for Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). His research examines the conceptualization, measurement, and explanation of democracy and other governance related phenomena. Jan Teorell is Professor of Political Science at Lunds Universitet, Sweden and Principal Investigator for Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). His research interests include political methodology, comparative politics and democratization, corruption, and state-making.

'V-Dem data, the fruit of a large international collaborative effort, is a big advance in the measurement of democracy, and has set a new baseline for discussions in this field. This book offers a careful, detailed, explanation about how this data was produced and validated. It is an indispensable source for users of V-Dem data. It also offers lessons for a broader discussion about measurement in the social sciences.' Gerardo Munck, University of Southern California 'To understand the causes and consequences of democracy, we must be able to measure it. Scholars have long struggled to develop measures of democracy that both capture its complexity and are sufficiently standardized to use for comparative analysis. Coppedge et al. have taken a major step in this direction. Not only does Varieties of Democracy provide the best available index of 'really existing' democracy, but it allows scholars to explore other dimensions - such as participation, deliberation, and equality - that have long been associated with the broader concept of democracy. Research on democracies and democratization remains central to comparative politics. Varieties of Democracy makes an immense contribution to this research.' Steven Levitsky, Harvard University, Massachusetts 'I recommend the inclusion of Varieties of Democracy in any upper-level BA and MA course on research design and methods due to its invaluable service of revealing the thinking that lies behind the application of such methods.' Michael Alvarez, Journal of Peace Research