Measuring Democracy

Munck’s book is a laudable effort to build bridges between the world of democratic theory and related methodologies and the practical world of politics and government, which in the past have remained isolated from each other. Data and measurements produced by scholars do have an impact outside the academic world, and, as Munck compellingly argues, scholars have a social responsibility to produce useful knowledge.

This is an important and timely contribution. The increasing academic and policy interest in democracy and democratization demands improved analytical and empirical criteria. This book is a significant contribution to this task, for which Munck is superbly qualified.

Gerardo Munck has thought long and hard about the measurement of democracy. With this brilliant book, he delivers the fruits of that careful thinking in a way that will stimulate methodologists, improve the results of scholarly analyses of democracy, and provide concrete tools for election observers in the field. This book goes further than any other that I know toward bringing conceptual and measurement validity into the study of democracy.

There is something for everybody in this book... Highly recommended.