Methodology
International IDEA handbook on democracy assessment
Handbook on democracy assessment
Authors:
D. Beetham; S. Bracking; I. Kearton
Publisher:
International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance / International IDEA, 2001
The International IDEA Handbook on Democracy Assessment is a guide to assessing the quality of democracy and human rights in any country around the world.
The Handbook provides a means to measure systematically the full range of values, institutions and issues relating to modern democracy that is sensitive to the underlying principles and democracy and the differences between democracies themselves. It is therefore both universal in application and capable of responding to particular aspects of any one nation's democratic arrangements.
The main principle of the Handbook is that only citizens of a nation themselves are qualified to assess the quality of their own democratic arrangements. Thus, it provides a self-help guide, which gives academics, lawyers, political practitioners, journalists and interested citizens the tools to assess the state of their democracy, or any key aspects of their democracy.
The Handbook draws on the actual experience of assessing democracy in different countries, comparative knowledge and research, and democratic principles and practice. It gives a step-by-step guide to the purposes and methods of democracy assessment:
- who to involve; how to use the research tools;
- how to validate the findings; what standards of practice to adopt; and
- how to present and publicise a finished assessment.
(adapted from the author's summary)
