Democracy indices

Democracy indices / rankings are quantitative and comparativemeasurements of the state of democracy for different countries according to various definitions and concepts of democracy, to allow for their assessment and development.

The democracy indices / rankings differ in whether they are categorical, such as classifying countries into democracies, hybrid regimes, and autocracies, or continuous values. The qualitative nature of democracy indices / rankings enables data analytical approaches for studying causal mechanisms of regime transformation processes. Democracy indices / rankings vary in their scope and the weight assigned to different aspects of democracy. These aspects include the breadth and strength of core democratic institutions, freedom of expression, the competitiveness and inclusiveness of polyarchy, governance quality, adherence to democratic norms, co-option of opposition, and other related factors, such as electoral system manipulation, electoral fraud, and popular support of anti-democratic alternatives.