| Abstract: | The authors have developed a scale based on Robert Dahl’s concept of polyarchy. The scale measures the degree to which national political systems meet the minimum requirements for political democracy, where real-world “democracies” rather than abstract ideals are the, standard. The Polyarchy Scale is constructed from indicators of freedom of expression, freedom of organization, media pluralism, and the holding of fair elections. The scale is (1) well grounded in democratic theory, (2) world-wide in scope., (3) demonstrably valid, (4) solves problems of weighting indicators and (5) is easy to interpret and replicate., Some limitations in the scale's applicability are discussed and suggestions are made for improvements and future research. Michael Coppedge is assistant professor in the Latin American Studies Program at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), 1740 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. He is completing a book on party factions and presidential democracy in Venezuela. Wolfgang H. Reinicke is a Ph.D. candidate at Yale University and a research fellow at the Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. He is currently completing a dissertation on the politics of global integration in banking and finance. |
