Varieties of Democracy

'V-Dem data, the fruit of a large international collaborative effort, is a big advance in the measurement of democracy, and has set a new baseline for discussions in this field. This book offers a careful, detailed, explanation about how this data was produced and validated. It is an indispensable source for users of V-Dem data. It also offers lessons for a broader discussion about measurement in the social sciences.' Gerardo Munck, University of Southern California
'To understand the causes and consequences of democracy, we must be able to measure it. Scholars have long struggled to develop measures of democracy that both capture its complexity and are sufficiently standardized to use for comparative analysis. Coppedge et al. have taken a major step in this direction. Not only does Varieties of Democracy provide the best available index of 'really existing' democracy, but it allows scholars to explore other dimensions – such as participation, deliberation, and equality – that have long been associated with the broader concept of democracy. Research on democracies and democratization remains central to comparative politics. Varieties of Democracy makes an immense contribution to this research.' Steven Levitsky, Harvard University, Massachusetts
'I recommend the inclusion of Varieties of Democracy in any upper-level BA and MA course on research design and methods due to its invaluable service of revealing the thinking that lies behind the application of such methods.' Michael Alvarez, Journal of Peace Research