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V-Dem Democracy Indices

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For overview of democracy indices, see Democracy indices.
Map of V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index for 2023

The Democracy Indices by V-Dem are democracy indices published by the V-Dem Institute that describe qualities of different democracies. It is published annually.[1] In particular, the V-Dem dataset is popular among political scientists and describes the characteristics of political regimes. Datasets released by the V-Dem Institute include information on hundreds of indicator variables describing all aspects of government, especially on the quality of democracy, inclusivity, and other economic indicators.

By 2020, the V-Dem index had "more than 470 indicators, 82 mid-level indices, and 5 high-level indices covering 202 polities from the period of 1789–2019".[2] V-Dem uses methodological tools to deal with the subject nature of ratings and their reliability.[2]

Democracy indices

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As of 2022, the V-Dem Institute published 483 indicators and republishes 59 other indicators.[3][4] V-Dem publishes five core indices with several other supplementary indices. The core indices are the electoral democracy index, the liberal democracy index, the participatory democracy index, the Deliberative Democracy Index and the egalitarian democracy index.[5]

The Electoral Democracy Index
This index measures the principle of electoral or representative democracy, including whether elections were free and fair, as well as the prevalence of a free and independent media. This index is part of all the other indices as a central component of democracy.[6]
Liberal Democracy Index
This index incorporates measures of rule of law, checks and balances, and civil liberties along with the concepts measured in the electoral democracy index.[6]
Participatory Democracy Index
This index measures the degree to which citizens participate in their own government through local democratic institutions, civil society organizations, direct democracy, and the concepts measured in the electoral democracy index.[6]
Deliberative Democracy Index
See also: deliberative democracy
This index measures the degree to which decisions are made in the best interest of the people as opposed to due to coercion or narrow interest groups, in addition to the basic electoral democracy index.[6]
Egalitarian Democracy Index
See also: political egalitarianism
This index measures the level of equal access to resources, power, and freedoms across various groups within a society, in addition to the level of electoral democracy.[6]

Rankings

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The table below shows V-Dem Democracy rankings published in 2024.[7][8][9]

V-Dem Democracy Indices (14th edition)
Country Democracy Indices Democracy Component Indices
Electoral Liberal Liberal Egalitarian Participatory Deliberative
 Denmark 0.915 0.883 0.977 0.972 0.716 0.967
 Ireland 0.896 0.831 0.933 0.875 0.634 0.905
 Estonia 0.895 0.845 0.955 0.887 0.638 0.85
 Belgium 0.895 0.814 0.909 0.931 0.648 0.91
 Switzerland 0.89 0.844 0.962 0.931 0.882 0.98
 New Zealand 0.886 0.831 0.95 0.866 0.703 0.831
 Norway 0.886 0.836 0.955 0.961 0.655 0.988
 Sweden 0.884 0.852 0.98 0.903 0.651 0.905
 Luxembourg 0.878 0.798 0.91 0.939 0.578 0.975
 France 0.877 0.81 0.93 0.811 0.632 0.939
 Czech Republic 0.871 0.805 0.933 0.913 0.585 0.88
 Costa Rica 0.868 0.816 0.953 0.886 0.648 0.945
 Finland 0.86 0.82 0.972 0.896 0.637 0.942
 Canada 0.856 0.755 0.882 0.777 0.648 0.822
 Germany 0.856 0.812 0.967 0.941 0.662 0.976
 Australia 0.854 0.804 0.957 0.832 0.704 0.921
 Netherlands 0.854 0.8 0.951 0.891 0.62 0.943
 United Kingdom 0.852 0.772 0.914 0.81 0.66 0.843
 Latvia 0.852 0.768 0.908 0.862 0.674 0.825
 United States 0.848 0.772 0.92 0.651 0.657 0.838
 Portugal 0.845 0.751 0.887 0.795 0.611 0.872
 Uruguay 0.845 0.77 0.922 0.821 0.768 0.849
 Austria 0.844 0.773 0.926 0.893 0.65 0.827
 Spain 0.843 0.757 0.902 0.841 0.645 0.828
 Argentina 0.84 0.69 0.803 0.769 0.616 0.696
 Chile 0.838 0.786 0.956 0.723 0.661 0.939
 Italy 0.837 0.757 0.911 0.904 0.747 0.911
 Iceland 0.834 0.744 0.896 0.87 0.659 0.845
 Slovakia 0.823 0.739 0.909 0.792 0.686 0.583
 Taiwan 0.823 0.722 0.878 0.913 0.751 0.897
 Japan 0.818 0.731 0.901 0.927 0.565 0.9
 Lithuania 0.798 0.735 0.938 0.868 0.692 0.822
 Jamaica 0.798 0.678 0.847 0.829 0.59 0.807
 Barbados 0.796 0.678 0.849 0.825 0.295 0.887
 Vanuatu 0.796 0.691 0.872 0.764 0.556 0.754
 Brazil 0.784 0.692 0.887 0.592 0.643 0.925
 Malta 0.779 0.64 0.807 0.894 0.653 0.803
 Cyprus 0.774 0.636 0.817 0.869 0.574 0.837
 Slovenia 0.758 0.653 0.864 0.884 0.71 0.867
 Cape Verde 0.754 0.648 0.863 0.725 0.538 0.695
 Trinidad and Tobago 0.753 0.635 0.84 0.788 0.577 0.928
 Suriname 0.753 0.631 0.837 0.713 0.572 0.773
 Greece 0.751 0.582 0.752 0.835 0.641 0.868
 Seychelles 0.743 0.659 0.894 0.831 0.288 0.942
 Croatia 0.733 0.639 0.879 0.768 0.625 0.68
 Panama 0.73 0.571 0.76 0.541 0.518 0.737
 Israel 0.723 0.634 0.889 0.762 0.603 0.759
 Moldova 0.713 0.608 0.86 0.8 0.665 0.93
 Colombia 0.704 0.565 0.793 0.528 0.648 0.695
 South Korea 0.703 0.604 0.863 0.863 0.61 0.844
 Peru 0.699 0.576 0.819 0.519 0.622 0.506
 East Timor 0.698 0.507 0.692 0.555 0.554 0.72
 South Africa 0.687 0.584 0.851 0.629 0.563 0.865
 Dominican Republic 0.685 0.438 0.577 0.46 0.595 0.837
 Nepal 0.681 0.523 0.742 0.592 0.614 0.555
 São Tomé and Príncipe 0.675 0.563 0.835 0.67 0.561 0.678
 Kosovo 0.674 0.494 0.702 0.685 0.524 0.6
 Romania 0.669 0.501 0.72 0.674 0.657 0.35
 Bulgaria 0.666 0.588 0.898 0.76 0.663 0.914
 Ghana 0.661 0.562 0.858 0.683 0.381 0.854
 Ecuador 0.646 0.467 0.689 0.488 0.759 0.54
 Namibia 0.646 0.519 0.792 0.425 0.486 0.706
 Lesotho 0.644 0.503 0.758 0.727 0.531 0.689
 The Gambia 0.641 0.517 0.798 0.659 0.592 0.728
 Liberia 0.639 0.436 0.638 0.561 0.469 0.836
 Armenia 0.634 0.422 0.611 0.811 0.442 0.69
 Solomon Islands 0.619 0.481 0.759 0.517 0.514 0.495
 Senegal 0.617 0.459 0.719 0.688 0.582 0.844
 Georgia 0.604 0.473 0.761 0.784 0.542 0.803
 Maldives 0.599 0.453 0.728 0.61 0.49 0.782
 Poland 0.588 0.444 0.729 0.877 0.555 0.719
 Bolivia 0.586 0.353 0.53 0.595 0.632 0.541
 Montenegro 0.581 0.467 0.785 0.771 0.561 0.759
 Malawi 0.58 0.485 0.83 0.479 0.567 0.753
 Sri Lanka 0.58 0.421 0.688 0.625 0.549 0.61
 Paraguay 0.579 0.426 0.697 0.315 0.535 0.493
 Kenya 0.564 0.456 0.789 0.59 0.603 0.833
 North Macedonia 0.56 0.359 0.584 0.598 0.61 0.64
 Botswana 0.558 0.434 0.753 0.658 0.432 0.587
 Indonesia 0.541 0.36 0.604 0.445 0.595 0.816
 Mexico 0.534 0.299 0.476 0.452 0.654 0.545
 Honduras 0.534 0.394 0.695 0.389 0.544 0.675
 Zambia 0.529 0.424 0.771 0.582 0.652 0.883
 Mongolia 0.527 0.405 0.732 0.607 0.398 0.769
 Bhutan 0.527 0.445 0.819 0.831 0.558 0.921
 Guyana 0.512 0.332 0.578 0.686 0.513 0.38
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 0.512 0.346 0.616 0.655 0.527 0.678
 Albania 0.51 0.402 0.75 0.706 0.555 0.444
 Malaysia 0.506 0.359 0.655 0.726 0.533 0.662
 Guatemala 0.505 0.309 0.536 0.294 0.489 0.46
 Fiji 0.504 0.41 0.779 0.638 0.432 0.78
 Benin 0.498 0.325 0.58 0.729 0.487 0.516
 Sierra Leone 0.497 0.384 0.728 0.642 0.585 0.912
 Nigeria 0.491 0.327 0.597 0.493 0.609 0.614
 Mauritius 0.479 0.36 0.696 0.729 0.57 0.809
 Papua New Guinea 0.475 0.383 0.761 0.493 0.527 0.524
 Madagascar 0.474 0.241 0.404 0.313 0.5 0.44
 Tunisia 0.472 0.301 0.558 0.813 0.548 0.766
 Ivory Coast 0.454 0.253 0.457 0.522 0.611 0.822
 Hungary 0.44 0.325 0.668 0.631 0.571 0.361
 Tanzania 0.435 0.39 0.844 0.708 0.532 0.777
 Philippines 0.43 0.287 0.581 0.334 0.567 0.749
 Guinea-Bissau 0.421 0.233 0.425 0.454 0.345 0.401
 Togo 0.416 0.215 0.409 0.626 0.477 0.735
 Ukraine 0.415 0.249 0.5 0.654 0.58 0.761
 Somaliland 0.404 0.247 0.508 0.28 0.509 0.507
 Singapore 0.403 0.331 0.735 0.81 0.134 0.738
 Niger 0.389 0.282 0.595 0.613 0.599 0.792
 El Salvador 0.388 0.111 0.151 0.315 0.469 0.261
 India 0.377 0.275 0.621 0.429 0.507 0.612
 Iraq 0.367 0.21 0.452 0.449 0.462 0.589
 Lebanon 0.364 0.237 0.529 0.503 0.472 0.667
 Serbia 0.364 0.253 0.579 0.747 0.55 0.486
 Mauritania 0.363 0.184 0.373 0.338 0.52 0.548
 Kyrgyzstan 0.358 0.199 0.432 0.582 0.392 0.367
 Mozambique 0.353 0.221 0.496 0.513 0.539 0.56
 Angola 0.349 0.173 0.358 0.293 0.179 0.367
 Pakistan 0.344 0.212 0.484 0.243 0.545 0.531
 Kuwait 0.333 0.313 0.8 0.58 0.186 0.66
 Democratic Republic of the Congo 0.317 0.122 0.244 0.353 0.398 0.631
 Central African Republic 0.302 0.1 0.189 0.282 0.306 0.373
 Cameroon 0.298 0.131 0.289 0.498 0.25 0.229
 Gabon 0.293 0.175 0.429 0.632 0.56 0.533
 Zanzibar 0.289 0.23 0.608 0.696 0.462 0.698
 Thailand 0.288 0.228 0.598 0.472 0.388 0.341
 Zimbabwe 0.288 0.174 0.436 0.36 0.532 0.543
 Turkey 0.287 0.113 0.245 0.53 0.416 0.195
 Kazakhstan 0.284 0.144 0.345 0.597 0.299 0.446
 Ethiopia 0.283 0.11 0.238 0.518 0.385 0.612
 Uganda 0.28 0.217 0.577 0.421 0.392 0.693
 Comoros 0.275 0.106 0.232 0.592 0.534 0.483
 Algeria 0.27 0.121 0.287 0.716 0.23 0.434
 Morocco 0.263 0.249 0.706 0.566 0.411 0.727
 Jordan 0.256 0.253 0.729 0.566 0.284 0.692
 Palestine (West Bank) 0.254 0.138 0.359 0.623 0.422 0.388
 Bangladesh 0.253 0.096 0.219 0.243 0.303 0.298
 Djibouti 0.253 0.122 0.303 0.528 0.397 0.387
 Republic of the Congo 0.245 0.119 0.305 0.34 0.546 0.562
 Mali 0.229 0.148 0.413 0.609 0.582 0.724
 Uzbekistan 0.215 0.081 0.2 0.449 0.173 0.445
 Rwanda 0.214 0.096 0.252 0.548 0.419 0.589
 Haiti 0.214 0.066 0.152 0.128 0.259 0.597
 Venezuela 0.211 0.055 0.115 0.285 0.482 0.067
 Burkina Faso 0.205 0.182 0.559 0.619 0.421 0.697
 Cambodia 0.198 0.057 0.13 0.219 0.371 0.187
 Libya 0.194 0.103 0.295 0.446 0.451 0.703
 Russia 0.19 0.062 0.151 0.396 0.379 0.2
 Egypt 0.189 0.129 0.388 0.317 0.211 0.303
 Azerbaijan 0.188 0.064 0.162 0.37 0.119 0.123
 Burundi 0.188 0.059 0.145 0.31 0.181 0.199
 Equatorial Guinea 0.183 0.057 0.14 0.327 0.113 0.1
 Guinea 0.18 0.088 0.253 0.388 0.424 0.22
 Cuba 0.176 0.058 0.151 0.771 0.236 0.3
 Somalia 0.172 0.136 0.429 0.29 0.251 0.734
 Oman 0.17 0.137 0.436 0.58 0.388 0.203
 Nicaragua 0.17 0.027 0.042 0.306 0.28 0.033
 Tajikistan 0.168 0.041 0.091 0.198 0.157 0.149
 Belarus 0.157 0.036 0.082 0.734 0.161 0.044
 Iran 0.156 0.082 0.246 0.5 0.079 0.186
 Hong Kong 0.154 0.124 0.401 0.721 0.131 0.17
 Turkmenistan 0.15 0.036 0.083 0.288 0.065 0.043
 Vietnam 0.149 0.114 0.372 0.662 0.563 0.613
 Chad 0.148 0.047 0.127 0.215 0.34 0.327
 Syria 0.146 0.054 0.153 0.167 0.137 0.056
 South Sudan 0.143 0.065 0.193 0.082 0.232 0.076
 Palestine (Gaza Strip) 0.136 0.07 0.219 0.582 0.357 0.202
 Sudan 0.135 0.046 0.132 0.208 0.279 0.163
 Laos 0.132 0.095 0.313 0.44 0.393 0.181
 Yemen 0.13 0.048 0.14 0.108 0.217 0.181
 Bahrain 0.129 0.054 0.165 0.391 0.122 0.209
 Eswatini 0.124 0.094 0.315 0.219 0.253 0.164
 United Arab Emirates 0.102 0.078 0.27 0.486 0.095 0.285
 Qatar 0.087 0.085 0.306 0.382 0.041 0.389
 North Korea 0.084 0.015 0.036 0.317 0.153 0.036
 Myanmar 0.081 0.016 0.044 0.207 0.314 0.221
 Afghanistan 0.075 0.03 0.101 0.112 0.03 0.093
 China 0.074 0.037 0.129 0.315 0.124 0.382
 Eritrea 0.068 0.01 0.025 0.439 0.028 0.109
 Saudi Arabia 0.015 0.046 0.184 0.446 0.087 0.249

Impact and usage

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Countries autocratizing (red) or democratizing (blue) substantially and significantly (2010–2020). Countries in grey are substantially unchanged.[10]

A variety of other organizations use V-Dem's dataset in the construction of their indicators.[11][12] The World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators also use V-Dem's data to inform their Control of Corruption indicator (includes V-Dem's Corruption index), Rule of Law Indicator (includes V-Dem's liberal component index), and the Voice and Accountability Indicator (includes V-Dem's Expanded freedom of expression, freedom of association, and Clean elections indicators).[12]

Digital Society Project

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The Digital Society Project is a subset of indicators on V-Dem's survey that asks questions about social media's political status and the internet.[6] Specifically, the Digital Society Project measures a range of questions related to internet censorship, misinformation online, and internet shutdowns.[13] This annual report includes 35 indicators assessing five areas: disinformation, digital media freedom, state regulation of digital media, the polarization of online media, and online social cleavages.[14][15] It has been updated each year starting in 2019, with data covering from 2000–2021.[14] Similar to other expert analyses like Freedom House, these data are more prone to false positives when compared with remotely sensed data, such as that from Access Now or the OpenNet Initiative.[15]

Criticisms

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This section is an excerpt from Democracy indices § Critiques of measures of democracy.[edit]
Data on democracy, and particularly global indices of democracy, and the data they rely on, have been the subject of scrutiny and criticized by various scholars. Gerardo L. Munck and Jay Verkuilen for instance, have raised concerns about the methodologies used by prominent democracy indices such as Freedom House and Polity.Such as the concept of democracy they measured, the design of indicators, and the aggregation rule.[16] Political scientists Andrew T. Little and Anne Meng "highlight measurement concerns regarding time-varying bias in expert-coded data" such as Freedom House and V-Dem and encourage improving expert-coding practices.[17] Knutsen et al.[18] did not see evidence for time-varying bias in their expert-coded data and note the application of item response theory, factor analysis and estimates of uncertainties to limit expert biases while discussing concerns in operationalization of observer-invariant measures of democracy.

Political scientist Jonas Wolff criticized V-Dem for gradually abandoning a pluralist conceptualization of democracy. According to him, V-Dem has moved away from its original emphasis on the conceptual varieties of democracy and adopted an uncontested view of democracy as liberal democracy while also ignoring the limitations of liberal democracy.[19]

The V-Dem dataset does not cover some countries, namely: Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Brunei, Dominica, Federated States of Micronesia, Grenada, Kiribati, Liechtenstein, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Nauru, Palau, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Tonga, Tuvalu, and the Vatican.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "New index rates countries by degree of freedom for scholars".
  2. ^ a b Hegedüs, Daniel (2020). "Varieties of Democracy: Measuring Two Centuries of Political Change. By Michael Coppedge, John Gerring, Adam Glynn, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Staffan I. Lindberg, Daniel Pemstein, Brigitte Seim, Svend-Erik Skaaning, and Jan Teorell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. 226p. $99.99 cloth". Perspectives on Politics. 18 (4): 1258–1260. doi:10.1017/S1537592720003059. ISSN 1537-5927. S2CID 230623566.
  3. ^ "New democracy dataset to 'revolutionize' democracy research". 8 January 2016.
  4. ^ Tucker, Joshua. "Open data and (15 million!) new measures of democracy". Washington Post.
  5. ^ Coppedge, Michael; John Gerring; Carl Henrik Knutsen; Staffan I. Lindberg; Jan Teorell; Kyle L. Marquardt; Juraj Medzihorsky; Daniel Pemstein; Nazifa Alizada; Lisa Gastaldi; Garry Hindle; Johannes von Römer; Eitan Tzelgov; Yi-ting Wang; and Steven Wilson. 2020. "V-Dem Methodology v10". Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Coppedge, Michael; John Gerring; Carl Henrik Knutsen; Staffan I. Lindberg; Jan Teorell; David Altman; Michael Bernhard; Agnes Cornell; M. Steven Fish; Lisa Gastaldi; Haakon Gjerløw; Adam Glynn; Allen Hicken; Anna Lührmann; Seraphine F. Maerz; Kyle L. Marquardt; Kelly McMann; Valeriya Mechkova; Pamela Paxton; Daniel Pemstein; Johannes vonRömer; Brigitte Seim; Rachel Sigman; Svend-Erik Skaaning; Jeffrey Staton; Aksel Sundtröm; EitanTzelgov; Luca Uberti; Yi-ting Wang; Tore Wig; and Daniel Ziblatt (2021). "V-Dem Codebook v11". Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project. Archived 8 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ^ Democracy Report 2024, Varieties of Democracy
  8. ^ "The V-Dem Dataset". V-Dem Institute. 2024. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  9. ^ Coppedge, Michael; Gerring, John; Glynn, Adam; Knutsen, Carl Henrik; Lindberg, Staffan I.; Pemstein, Daniel; Seim, Brigitte; Skaaning, Svend-Erik; Teorell, Jan; Altman, David; Bernhard, Michael; Bizzarro, Fernando; Krusell, Joshua; Maguire, Matthew; Marquardt, Kyle; McCann, Kelly; Mechkova, Valeriya; Miri, Farhad; Pernes, Josefine; Staton, Jeffrey; Stepanova, Natalia; Tzelgov, Eitan; Wang, Yi-Ting (2020). Varieties of Democracy. doi:10.1017/9781108347860. ISBN 978-1-108-34786-0.
  10. ^ Nazifa Alizada, Rowan Cole, Lisa Gastaldi, Sandra Grahn, Sebastian Hellmeier, Palina Kolvani, Jean Lachapelle, Anna Lührmann, Seraphine F. Maerz, Shreeya Pillai, and Staffan I. Lindberg. 2021. Autocratization Turns Viral. Democracy Report 2021. University of Gothenburg: V-Dem Institute. https://www.v-dem.net/media/filer_public/74/8c/748c68ad-f224-4cd7-87f9-8794add5c60f/dr_2021_updated.pdf.
  11. ^ USAID (2020). FY 2021 USAID Journey to Self-Reliance Country RoadmapMethodology Guide. https://selfreliance.usaid.gov/docs/FY_2021_USAID_Journey_to_Self-Reliance_Country_Roadmap_Methodology_Guide.pdf.
  12. ^ a b "WGI-Documents". The World Bank. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
  13. ^ Mechkova, Valeriya; Daniel Pemstein; Brigitte Seim; & Steven Wilson. (2020). Digital Society Project Dataset v2.Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project. http://digitalsocietyproject.org/.
  14. ^ a b Mechkova, Valeriya; Pemstein, Daniel; Seim, Brigitte; Wilson, Steven (2021). Digital Society Survey Codebook (PDF). Digital Society Project.
  15. ^ a b Fletcher, Terry; Hayes-Birchler, Andria (2020-07-30). Comparing Measures of Internet Censorship: Analyzing the Tradeoffs between Expert Analysis and Remote Measurement. Data for Policy 2020.
  16. ^ Gerardo L. Munck and Jay Verkuilen, “Conceptualizing and Measuring Democracy: Evaluating Alternative Indices,” Comparative Political Studies. 35, 1 (2002): 5–34. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.469.3177&rep=rep1&type=pdf.
  17. ^ Little, Andrew T.; Meng, Anne (2024-01-11). "Measuring Democratic Backsliding". PS: Political Science & Politics. 57 (2): 149–161. doi:10.1017/S104909652300063X. ISSN 1049-0965.
  18. ^ Knutsen, Carl Henrik; Marquardt, Kyle L.; Seim, Brigitte; Coppedge, Michael; Edgell, Amanda B.; Medzihorsky, Juraj; Pemstein, Daniel; Teorell, Jan; Gerring, John; Lindberg, Staffan I. (2024-01-11). "Conceptual and Measurement Issues in Assessing Democratic Backsliding". PS: Political Science & Politics. 57 (2): 162–177. doi:10.1017/S104909652300077X. ISSN 1049-0965.
  19. ^ Wolff, Jonas (2022-07-06). "From the Varieties of Democracy to the defense of liberal democracy: V-Dem and the reconstitution of liberal hegemony under threat". Contemporary Politics. 29 (2): 161–181. doi:10.1080/13569775.2022.2096191. ISSN 1356-9775. S2CID 250372421.

Further reading

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