A fool's errand? : quantifying democratic fragility

Sawicka, Monika, McQuay, Mark

The chapter reviews selected democracy indices, as well as rankings of phenomena closely related to the stability of democratic regimes. It outlines the main controversies surrounding efforts to measure the condition of democratic regimes across the world and current trends in quantitative studies, along with considerations regarding the applicability of datasets to a project focused on the state of democratic fragility. The review of data provided in selected democratic rankings serves to outline a fragility map based on quantifiable indicators that reflect the features of democratic institutions, political elites and civil society, as well as a broad range of unfavourable conditions affecting democratic systems. In the final section, the ratings assigned in the indices to the states analysed in the chapters of the second part of the book are briefly outlined. This will allow us to highlight the limitations and shortfalls of quantitative assessments of democracy and the necessity to extend them through qualitative analysis.