Measuring Democracy - The IDEA Questionnaire - Artur Victoria Studies

From the broadly concept of democracy an assessment questionnaire is formed. It contains four components and each of them contains a number of questions. The first component has sections on nationhood and citizenship; the rule of law; civil and political rights; economic and social rights. The second has sections on free and fair elections; the democratic role of political parties; government effectiveness and accountability; civilian control of the military and police; minimizing corruption. The third has sections on the media in a democratic society; political participation; government responsiveness; decentralization. There is a fourth section devoted to the international dimensions of democracy, which includes issues of governmental autonomy from external control, as well as the supportiveness of government policy towards democracy abroad.

The actual questionnaire according to sections has the following questions.

Section 1: Nationhood and Identity

1.1 How inclusive is the political nation and state citizenship of all who live within the territory?
1.2 How far are cultural differences acknowledged, and how well are minorities protected?
1.3 How much consensus is there on state boundaries and constitutional arrangements?
1.4 How far do constitutional and political arrangements enable major societal divisions to be moderated or reconciled?
1.5 How impartial and inclusive are the procedures for amending the constitution?

Section 2: The rule of law and access to justice

2.1 How far is the rule of law operative throughout the territory?
2.2 To what extent are all public officials subject to the rule of law and to transparent rules in the performance of their functions?
2.3 How independent are the courts and the judiciary from the executive, and how free are they from all kinds of interference?
2.4 How equal and secure is the access of citizens to justice, to due process and to redress in the event of maladministration?
2.5 How far do the criminal justice and penal systems observe due rules of impartial and equitable treatment in their operations?
2.6 How much confidence do people have in the legal system to deliver fair and effective justice?

Section 3: Civil and political rights

3.1 How free are all people from physical violation of their person, and from fear of it?
3.2 How effective and equal is the protection of the freedoms of movement, expression, association and assembly?
3.3 How secure is the freedom for all to practices their own religion, language or culture?
3.4 How free from harassment and intimidation are individuals and groups working to improve human rights?

Section 4: Economic and social rights

4.1 How far is access to work or social security available to all, without discrimination?
4.2 How effectively are the basic necessities of life guaranteed, including adequate food, shelter and clean water?
4.3 To what extent is the health of the population protected, in all spheres and stages of life?
4.4 How extensive and inclusive is the right to education, including education in the rights and responsibilities of citizenship?
4.5 How free are trade unions and other work-related associations to organise and represent their members’ interests?
4.6 How rigorous and transparent are the rules on corporate governance, and how effectively are corporations regulated in the public interest?

Section 5: Free and fair elections

5.1 How far is appointment to governmental and legislative office determined by popular competitive election, and how frequently do elections lead to change in the governing parties or personnel?
5.2 How inclusive and accessible for all citizens are the registration and voting procedures, how independent are they of government and party control, and how free from intimidation and abuse?
5.3 How fair are the procedures for the registration of candidates and parties, and how far is there fair access for them to the media and other means of communication with the voters?
5.4 How effective a range of choice does the electoral and party system allow the voters, how equally do their votes count, and how closely does the composition of the legislature and the selection of the executive reflect the choices they make?
5.5 How far does the legislature reflect the social composition of the electorate?
5.6 What proportion of the electorate votes, and how far are the election results accepted by all political forces in the country and outside?

Section 6: Democratic role of political parties

6.1 How freely are parties able to form, recruit members and campaign for office?
6.2 How effective is the party system in forming and sustaining governments in office?
6.3 How free are opposition or non-governing parties to organize within the legislature, and how effectively do they contribute to government accountability?
6.4 How fair and effective are the rules governing party discipline in the legislature?
6.5 How far are parties’ effective membership organizations, and how far are members able to influence party policy and candidate selection?
6.6 How far does the system of party financing prevent the subordination of parties to special interests?
6.7 To what extent do parties cross ethnic, religious and linguistic divisions?

Section 7: Government effectiveness and accountability

7.1 How far is the elected government able to influence or control those matters that are important to the lives of its people, and how well is it informed, organized and resourced to do so?
7.2 How much public confidence is there in the effectiveness of government and its political leadership?
7.3 How effective and open to scrutiny is the control exercised by elected leaders and their ministers over their administrative staff and other executive agencies?
7.4 How extensive and effective are the powers of the legislature to initiate, scrutinize and amend legislation?
7.5 How extensive and effective are the powers of the legislature to scrutinize the executive and hold it to account?
7.6 How rigorous are the procedures for approval and supervision of taxation and public expenditure?
7.7 How comprehensive and effective is legislation giving citizens the right of access to government information?

Section 8: Civilian control of the military and police

8.1 How effective is civilian control over the armed forces, and how free is political life from military involvement?
8.2 How publicly accountable are the police and security services for their activities?
8.3 How far does the composition of the army, police and security services reflect the social composition of society at large?
8.4 How free is the country from the operation of paramilitary units, private armies, and warlordism and criminal mafias?

Section 9: Minimizing corruption

9.1 How effective is the separation of public office from the personal business and family interests of office holders?
9.2 How effective are the arrangements for protecting office holders and the public from involvement in bribery?
9.3 How far do the rules and procedures for financing elections, candidates and elected representatives prevent their subordination to sectional interests?
9.4 How far is the influence of powerful corporations and business interests over public policy kept in check, and how free are they from involvement in corruption, including overseas?
9.5 How much confidence do people have that public officials and public services are free from corruption?

Section 10: The media in a democratic society

10.1 How independent are the media from government, how pluralistic is their ownership, and how free are they from subordination to foreign governments or multinational companies?
10.2 How representative are the media of different opinions and how accessible are they to different sections of society?
10.3 How effective are the media and other independent bodies in investigating government and powerful corporations?
10.4 How free are journalists from restrictive laws, harassment and intimidation?
10.5 How free are private citizens from intrusion and harassment by the media?

Section 11: Political participation

11.1 How extensive is the range of voluntary associations, citizen groups, social movement’s etc. and how independent are they from government?
11.2 How extensive is citizen participation in voluntary associations and self-management organizations, and in other voluntary public activity?
11.3 How far do women participate in political life and public office at all levels?
11.4 How equal is access for all social groups to public office, and how fairly are they represented within it?

Section 12: Government responsiveness

12.1 How open and systematic are the procedures for public consultation on government policy and legislation, and how equal is the access for relevant interests to government?
12.2 How accessible are elected representatives to their constituents?
12.3 How accessible and reliable are public services for those who need them, and how systematic is consultation with users over service delivery?
12.4 How much confidence do people have in the ability of government to solve the main problems confronting society, and in their own ability to influence it?

Section 13: Decentralization

13.1 How independent are the sub-central tiers of government from the center, and how far do they have the powers and resources to carry out their responsibilities?
13.2 How far are these levels of government subject to free and fair electoral authorization, and to the criteria of openness, accountability and responsiveness in their operation?
13.3 How extensive is the co-operation of government at the most local level with relevant partners, associations and communities in the formation and implementation of policy, and in service provision?

Section 14: International dimensions of democracy

14.1 How free is the governance of the country from subordination to external agencies, economic, cultural or political?
14.2 How far are government relations with external donors and international institutions based on principles of partnership and transparency?
14.3 How far does the government support UN human rights treaties and respect international law?
14.4 How far does the government respect its international obligations in its treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, and how free from arbitrary discrimination is its immigration policy?
14.5 How consistent is the government in its support for human rights and democracy abroad?

The answer on all these questions mentioned is given according to a five-point scale from very high, to very low, with high, middling or ambiguous and low in between.

The criteria according these points are to be awarded are not mentioned because they are supposed to be awarded by country experts according to their own criteria.

The assessment methodology of has now been tested in the eight pilot countries and was published in 2001. The pilot study covered Bangladesh, El Salvador, Italy, Kenya, South Korea, Malawi, New Zealand and Peru. The purpose of the pilot project is just to assess the usefulness of methodology on different countries and not to be a pilot project of a broader research. The development of the methodology of democracy assessment is supposed just to create tools that can be of use to people interested in democracy assessment.

The possibility of democracy assessment according to above mentioned methodology is available on the IDEA project “State of Democracy” web site, but the largest number of actual attempts did not went further from the second group of questions.