Democracy : A study of democracy index and their possible limitations

This essay is about democracy and how a democracy index can be used as a tool to illustratethe gap between reality and ideal. The purpose of this study can be expressed by two researchquestions: Does the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) democracy index illustrate thedistance between reality and the ideal of democracy presented by Dahl? and Can the EIU'sdemocracy index be modified by a) internal adjustments and b) using the variables includedin World Economic Forum’s (WEF) equality index? By using a combination of theories (Dahl’s theory of democracy, Rawls theory of justice andchosen theories critical to liberal democracy) as an analytical framework the following twoquestions have been answered:1) Which of the variables included in the EIU's democracy index have the potential to capturethe level of political equality?2) Which of the variables included in the WEF’s equality index have the potential to capturethe degree of political equality? By using a quantitative method the study’s third and last question has been answered:3) How strong is the rank correlation between the EIU’s democracy index and the WEF’sequality index, that is; how strong is the rank correlation coefficient (rho)? The data presented by the WEF’s equality index indicate that women are systematicallydiscriminated against as a group. From a democratic perspective the EIU may need tomeasure inequalities at a group level in order to capture the lack of political equality betweenindividuals. By reformulating some of the EIU’s variables, by revising the EIU’s point systemand by using the variables included in the WEF's equality index to extend EIU’s democracyindex, the chances of capturing the gap between reality and the ideal of democracy presentedby Dahl would likely increase