Explaining the Method

‘How democratic is our country and its government?’

There are many ways to answer this question. The International IDEA framework takes a particular approach that marks it out from other approaches to democracy assessment and measurement.

Main features

Only citizens and others who live in the country being assessed should carry out a democracy assessment, since only they can know from experience how their country’s history and culture shape its approach to democratic principles.
A democracy assessment by citizens and residents of a country may be initiated by government or external agencies only under strict safeguards of the independence of the assessment.
The assessment should assist in identifying priorities for reform and monitoring their progress.
The criteria for assessment should be derived from clearly defined democratic principles and allowing assessors to choose priorities for examination according to local needs.
The assessments should be qualitative judgements of strengths and weaknesses in each area, strengthened by quantitative measures where appropriate.
The assessors should choose benchmarks or standards for assessment, based on the country’s history, regional practice and international norms, as they think appropriate.
The assessment process should involve wide public consultation, including a national workshop to validate the findings.
Old as well as new democracies can and should be subject to a similar framework of assessment.

The Elements of the Framework

The table below gives an overview of the different elements that form the Assessment Framework, including: the democratic principles that form the basis for the framework, mediating values deriving from the democratic principles, the overall structure of four pillars, each of which has search questions that form the core of the democracy assessment.

The Assessments Questions and the sub-components

The framework is divided into four different analytical components: the assessment questions; what to look for; generalized sources; and standards of good practice.

The 75 Assessments Questions

The Assessment Questions drive the assessment process and determine what we should be looking for. They are all quite broadly framed so as to provide room for all relevant issues, some of which cannot be precisely identified in a general framework.

The assessment questions are phrased in the comparative mode: how inclusive…? how equal…? how representative…? how impartial…? how accountable…? how effective…? and so on. This is because democracy is not an all-or-nothing affair, which a country either has or does not have. Read more (The Practical Guide Page 30, 32, 33)

What to look for

This section plays a flexible and important part in complementing the search questions by indicating the types of issue that they cover and outlining the kinds of data that are needed to help answer the questions. Typically, they are structured in terms, first, of the legal position; then of how effectively the law is implemented in practice; then of any positive or negative indicators which are relevant to the question.

This enables the assessment process to probe systematically behind the formal legal or constitutional position, and to examine how government is actually experienced in the everyday life of the citizens.

Generalized Sources

Provides a list of suggested sources for the data required. The most useful sources for each question are likely to be those compiled in the country concerned – government statistics, opinion surveys, NGO investigations, academic analyses, and so on.

The sources have been itemized based on sources that contain information either on most countries in a region, or globally. Although these require continual updating, they can provide a useful reference point.

Standards of Good Practice

‘What are appropriate standards against which a given country’s performance should be assessed?’

This section covers standards of good practice. The issue of what are appropriate standards against which a given country’s performance should be assessed is a contestable one, and must be a matter for decision by assessors in the country concerned. What counts as a good standard of performance in respect of each item for assessment? This section is a compilation of possible international standards and examples of good practice to serve as a point of reference. Assessors may in fact choose to use a number of different assessment standards, or to employ different ones for different sections of the framework. This must be a matter for country-based decision.

For a small overview of possible comparator for standard setting click here

Sources