What are the most democratic countries in Europe? How would we find out? We could look at electoral turnouts. But while elections matter, Demos doesn’t believe that democracy is something that should start and finish at the ballot box.
That’s why we have developed the Everyday Democracy Index (EDI). The EDI is a tool for assessing the democratic health of European countries across many different dimensions. That includes not just formal dimensions of democracy but also more everyday features of democracy – how important democratic principles and practices are to the cultures of workplaces, to people’s community life, to the way they interact with public services, and even to the way they talk to their friends and family.
This pamphlet sets out the argument and methodology behind the first EDI, which covers 25 countries in the European Union area. Europe is home to some of the world’s oldest democracies as well as some of its youngest. Across many of them the same debates are gathering momentum: Why are people voting less? Why are political party memberships dropping? Why is trust in politics so low?
There are other democracy indices out there, but whilst they may be good at identifying the differences between, say, Belgium and Burkina Faso, they are less good at revealing the contrast between democratic experiences in Finland and France. Starting with Europe, we hope to begin a new conversation about democracy where they leave off, with countries around the world.
We need to connect these debates, we need to invigorate them and we need a new starting point. This is what the Everyday Democracy Index aims to achieve.
This marks the start of a conversation about Everyday Democracy and we want to hear what you think. To get involved, go to the interactive website, visit the project page or contact kirsten.bound@demos.co.uk.
You can listen to a podcast with the authors Paul Skidmore and Kirsten Bound here.
This pamphlet sets out the argument and methodology behind the first EDI, which covers 25 countries in the European Union area. Europe is home to some of the world’s oldest democracies as well as some of its youngest. Across many of them the same debates are gathering momentum: Why are people voting less? Why are political party memberships dropping? Why is trust in politics so low?
There are other democracy indices out there, but whilst they may be good at identifying the differences between, say, Belgium and Burkina Faso, they are less good at revealing the contrast between democratic experiences in Finland and France. Starting with Europe, we hope to begin a new conversation about democracy where they leave off, with countries around the world.
We need to connect these debates, we need to invigorate them and we need a new starting point. This is what the Everyday Democracy Index aims to achieve.
This marks the start of a conversation about Everyday Democracy and we want to hear what you think. To get involved, go to the interactive website, visit the project page or contact kirsten.bound@demos.co.uk.
You can listen to a podcast with the authors Paul Skidmore and Kirsten Bound here.
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Great Stuff! Very though provoking. I had some questions while reading it.
The family section is interesting. Would be interesting to see correlations with some often discussed measures of family culture: number of children per family, abortion rate, divorce rate.
Also wondered, especially when reading about the correlations with measures of economic prosperity, about economic freedom. The freedom not just to feel involved, but also to have the economic resources to be able to achieve a good life.
Very strange to me that productivity did not continue to increase beyond the EDI level of say, theUK
Very interesting thatSweden
Neat discussion of the use of PCA.
Of course, any discussion of a democracy measure that does not include theUS
I also wondered about another often-quoted measure of grass roots democracy: participation in the share market. Common view goes something like “we have freed people from shackles, and now they can participate in the share market and become capital owners.” So I wondered would EDI correlate with a measure of breadth of share market participation.
Also recalled a quote from Senge, I think, that to listen is to go on a journey without knowing the destination. Does a strong feeling of felt democracy require a society with a low need for predictable outcomes from processes? For example, Geert Hofstede has a measure called “uncertainty avoidance.”Sweden Sweden
OK, so I am feeling like I have EDI OCD, but I just cannot stop! Another question I keep pondering is whether EDI inversely correlates with measures of social alienation. E.g. crime rate. Vandalism especially.