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Abstract
Works on the quality of democracy propose standards for evaluating politics beyond those encompassed by a minimal definition of democracy. Yet, what is the quality of democracy? This article first reconstructs and assesses current conceptualizations of the quality of democracy. Thereafter, it reconceptualizes the quality of democracy by equating it with democracy pure and simple, positing that democracy is a synthesis of political freedom and political equality, and spelling out the implications of this substantive assumption. The proposal is to broaden the concept of democracy to address two additional spheres: government decision-making – political institutions are democratic inasmuch as a majority of citizens can change the status quo – and the social environment of politics – the social context cannot turn the principles of political freedom and equality into mere formalities. Alternative specifications of democratic standards are considered and reasons for discarding them are provided.
Acknowledgements
I received useful comments and encouragement from Mariano Bertucci, David Collier, Zsolt Enyedi, Sebastián Mazzuca, Wolfgang Merkel, Jørgen Møller, Mauricio Rivera Celestino, Svend-Erik Skaaning, Bernhard Wessels, Barbara Zarate, and Rodrigo Zarazaga. I also benefited from feedback from the journal editor, the anonymous reviewers, and participants of forums where I presented earlier versions of this article in Berlin, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Medellín, and Quito.
Notes on contributor
Gerardo Munck is Professor at the School of International Relations of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. His research interests include democratization, the state, measurement methodology, and Latin American politics.
Notes
1. On sense and reference, see Bunge, Finding Philosophy, 55–7.
2. On term, concept, and conception, see Sartori in Collier and Gerring, Concepts, 66–7. On background and systematized concepts, see Adcock and Collier, “Measurement,” 531–4.
3. Dahl, Polyarchy; O'Donnell, “Horizontal Accountability”; O'Donnell, “Why the Rule Matters.”
4. Dahl, Democracy, 167, 170.
5. Compare Altman and Pérez-Liñán, “Assessing the Quality of Democracy,” 88, to Morlino, Changes for Democracy, 205–8.
6. Lauth, Demokratie, Ch. 1; Lauth, “The Matrix of Democracy,” 4–11; Bühlmann et al., “The Democracy Barometer,” 520–6.
7. Lauth, “Quality Criteria for Democracy.”
8. Levine and Molina, “Evaluating the Quality of Democracy in Latin America,” 13.
9. Roberts, The Quality of Democracy in Eastern Europe, 39.
10. Ringen, What Democracy is For, 26–8.
11. On reference, as distinct from extension, see Bunge, Finding Philosophy, 52–3.
12. Roberts, The Quality of Democracy in Eastern Europe, 25; Levine and Molina, “Evaluating the Quality of Democracy in Latin America,” 2–4, 7–8.
13. Morlino, Changes for Democracy, 195, 255.
14. Lauth, “The Matrix of Democracy,” 7, 13.
15. Przeworski, Democracy, 16.
16. Kelsen, General Theory of Law and State, 287; Kelsen, “Foundations of Democracy,” 25; Dahl, A Preface to Democratic Theory, 37; Bellamy, Political Constitutionalism, Ch. 4, 210; and Przeworski, Democracy, 1, 7, 11.
17. Rousseau, The Social Contract, Book 1, Ch. 8, 167.
18. Munck, Measuring Democracy, 55–6.
19. Bobbio, The Future of Democracy, 24.
20. Kelsen, General Theory of Law and State, 283–300; Dahl, Democracy; McGann, The Logic of Democracy, Ch. 2; Bellamy, Political Constitutionalism; Przeworski, Democracy, Chs 1 and 2.
21. Kelsen, General Theory of Law and State, 292–7; McGann, The Logic of Democracy, Ch. 3.
22. Ferrajoli, Principia Iuris, 179–80.
23. Kelsen, General Theory of Law and State, 282, 286–7, 296, 298; May “A Set of Independent Necessary and Sufficient Conditions”; Rae, “Decision Rules”; McGann, The Logic of Democracy, Chs 2 and 4; Przeworski, Democracy, 31–42, Ch. 6.
24. McGann, The Logic of Democracy, 84.
25. Dahl, How Democratic is the American Constitution, 54–5, 152–4.
26. Przeworski, Democracy, 126, 145.
27. Bellamy, Political Constitutionalism, 20–6, Ch. 6.
28. Kelsen, General Theory of Law and State, 286, 298, 296.
29. Ferrajoli, Principia Iuris, 17, my translation.
30. Murphy, Constitutional Democracy, Part I; Ferrajoli, Principia Iuris, 85–8, 196–203.
31. Ferrajoli, Principia Iuris, 211; Ferrajoli, “The Normative Paradigm,” 363.
32. McGann, The Logic of Democracy, 108, 198–9; Przeworski, Democracy, 144–5, 159–60.
33. Maravall and Przeworski, “Introduction,” 3, 9; Dahl, How Democratic is the American Constitution?, 39, 122; and Bellamy, Political Constitutionalism, 5, 53.
34. Dworkin, Freedom's Law, 15–8; Murphy, Constitutional Democracy; Ferrajoli, Principia Iuris, 44–5, 49; Ferrajoli, “The Normative Paradigm.”
35. Kelsen, General Theory of Law and State, 299–300; Mazzuca, “Access to Power,” 342–4.
36. Dworkin, Is Democracy Possible Here?, 134; Dworkin, Freedom's Law, 7–35.
37. Ferrajoli, “The Normative Paradigm,” 357.
38. Dworkin, Is Democracy Possible Here?, 155; Ferrajoli, Principia Iuris, 19–20; Ferrajoli, “The Normative Paradigm,” 360.
39. Dworkin, Is Democracy Possible Here?, 155.
40. Ferrajoli, Principia Iuris, Ch. 13; Ferrajoli, “The Normative Paradigm,” 358.
41. Dahl, Democracy; 171–3, 221.
42. Schumpeter, Capitalism, 242.
43. Kelsen, “On the Essence and Value of Democracy,” 106–9; Kelsen, “Foundations of Democracy,” 4–5.
44. Ferrajoli, Principia Iuris, Ch. 15. For a less extensive but still long list of rights, see Beetham et al., Assessing, 73–4, 111–45.
45. Bobbio, The Future of Democracy, 25.
46. Dahl, Polyarchy, 3; Bobbio, The Future of Democracy, 25.
47. Dahl, Democracy, 167, 170; italics removed.
48. Dahl, “Democracy.”
49. Dahl, On Political Equality, 75–6.
50. Przeworski, Democracy, 66.
51. Tilly, Democracy, 118; Przeworski, Democracy, 93, 98.
52. Sen, Development, Chs 1 and 4; O'Donnell, Democracy, Ch. 9.
53. Bobbio, Teoría, 545.
54. Dahl, Polyarchy, 2–3, 8; Dahl, Democracy, 220–2.
55. Bobbio, The Future of Democracy, 26–7.
56. Dahl, Democracy, Chs 1 and 2.