Voting Counts: Participation in the Measurement of Democracy |
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Authors: | Bruce E Moon Jennifer Harvey Birdsall Sylvia Ciesluk Lauren M Garlett Joshua J Hermias Elizabeth Mendenhall Patrick D Schmid Wai Hong Wong |
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Institution: | (1) Political Science, University of Vermont, Old Mill Room 533, 94 University Place, Burlington, VT 05405-0114, USA |
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Abstract: | The measures of democracy commonly used in empirical research suffer notable limitations, primarily the exclusion of participation.
As a result, quantitative studies may undervalue the effect of democracy on important social outcomes or misinterpret the
aspect of democracy responsible for that effect. We respond by introducing and validating two variants of a new indicator,
the Participation Enhanced Polity Score (PEPS), which augments institutional factors with the breadth of citizen participation.
We demonstrate, using statistical evidence on democratic persistence, basic needs fulfillment, and gender equality, that no
measure of democracy can be considered an accurate representation of its basic character without directly including participation
as a core component.
Bruce E. Moon is professor of international relations at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He is the author ofThe Political Economy of Basic Human Needs (Cornell University Press. 1991) and two editions ofThe Dilemmas of International Trade (Westview Press, 1996, 2000).
Jennifer Harvey Birdsall is a researcher for a NGO in Geneva, Switzerland. She received her B.A. in international relations
and economics from Lehigh University and her M.S. in global affairs from Rutgers University-Newark.
Sylvia Ciesluk is pursuing an M.A. at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She received her B.S. in economics from Lehigh
University.
Lauren M. Garlett is a geography teacher at Bellamy Middle School in Chicopee, Massachusetts. She received both her B.A in
international relations and her M.Ed. in secondary education from Lehigh University.
Joshua J. Hermias is associate director of the Global Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. He received his B.A. in
economics from Lehigh University and his M.A. in international development from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England.
Elizabeth Mendenhall is pursuing a Masters in International Affairs (MIA) in economic and political development at Columbia
University. She received a B.A. in international relations at Lehigh University.
Patrick D. Schmid is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at Lehigh University. He received both his B.S. and M.S. in computer
science from Lehigh University.
Wai Hong Wong is a research associate at FactSet Research Systems. He received his B.A. in international relations and economics
at Lehigh University.
We are grateful for the helpful suggestions of Frank Davis, Bill Dixon, Chaim Kaufmann, Rajan Menon, Pamela Paxton, Larry
Taylor, and the anonymous reviewers. |
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