Table of Contents

1. Brennan Center for Justice
2. Center for Systemic Peace
3. Democracy Index (The Economist)
4. Freedom House
5. Protect Democracy
6. States United Democracy Center
7. Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem)
8. Voting Rights Lab

Brennan Center for Justice

• brennancenter.org/
  • The Bren­nan Center for Justice is an inde­pend­ent, nonpar­tisan law and policy organ­iz­a­tion that works to reform, revital­ize, and when neces­sary, defend our coun­try’s systems of demo­cracy and justice.
• brennancenter.org/our-work
  • News and Analysis
  • Policy Solutions
  • Research and Reports

Center for Systemic Peace

• systemicpeace.org
  • The Center continually monitors political behavior in each of the world’s major states, that is, all those with current populations greater than 500,000 (167 countries in 2014) and reports on emerging issues and persisting conditions related to the problems of political violence and “state failure.”
• Polity Project
• Polity 5
• INSCR Data Page
• Polity 5 Regime Narratives 2018
• Polity 5 Dataset User Manual
  • Democracy Index (DEMOC)
    • DEMOC Institutionalized Democracy: Democracy is conceived as three essential, interdependent elements.
      • One is the presence of institutions and procedures through which citizens can express effective preferences about alternative policies and leaders.
      • Second is the existence of institutionalized constraints on the exercise of power by the executive.
      • Third is the guarantee of civil liberties to all citizens in their daily lives and in acts of political participation.
    • The Democracy index is an additive eleven-point scale (0-10).
  • Combined Polity Score (POLITY)
    • The POLITY score is computed by subtracting the AUTOC score from the DEMOC score; the resulting unified polity scale ranges from +10 (strongly democratic) to -10 (strongly autocratic).
• From Polity 5 Annual Time Series
  • United States Democracy and Polity Ratings
    • 

Democracy Index (The Economist)

• eiu.com/topic/democracy-index
  • The Economist Intelligence Unit is the research and analysis division of The Economist Group, the sister company to The Economist newspaper.
• The EIU’s Democracy Index provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide in 165 independent states and two territories. The Index is based on five categories:
  • electoral process and pluralism
  • the functioning of government
  • political participation
  • political culture,
  • civil liberties.
• Based on its scores on a range of indicators within these categories, each country is then itself classified as one of four types of regime:
  • full democracy
  • flawed democracy
  • hybrid regime
  • authoritarian regime.

• From the report Democracy Index 2020: In sickness and in health?

Freedom House

• freedomhouse.org
  • Founded in 1941, Freedom House was the first American organization to champion the advancement of freedom globally. Working as an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world, Freedom House is notable for its nonpartisan character and commitment to maintaining support for its mission among members of both major US political parties.
• Our Issues
• Perspectives
• Policy Recommendations
• Reports
• Explore the Map

• From Freedom in the World 2022: The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule

Protect Democracy

• protectdemocracy.org
  • Protect Democracy is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization formed in late 2016 with an urgent and explicit mission: to prevent American democracy from declining into a more authoritarian form of government.
• The Threat
• The Authoritarian Playbook
• Publications and Resources

States United Democracy Center

• statesuniteddemocracy.org
  • States United Action is a nonpartisan section 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization with a mission to protect our elections and our democracy. 
• Resources
  • A Democracy Crisis In The Making

Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem)

• v-dem.net
  • Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) is a unique approach to conceptualizing and measuring democracy. We provide a multidimensional and disaggregated dataset that reflects the complexity of the concept of democracy as a system of rule that goes beyond the simple presence of elections. The V-Dem project distinguishes between five high-level principles of democracy: electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian, and collects data to measure these principles.
• Democracy Reports
• Graphing Tools

• From V-Dem Democracy Report 2022

• V-Dem classifies regimes into four categories (V-Dem Democracy Report 2022, Page 13)
  • Liberal Democracy, characterized by;
    • Free and fair elections, universal suffrage, freedom of expression and association.
    • Individual rights, rule of law, constraints on the executive by the legislature and high courts
  • Electoral Democracy, characterized by:
    • Free and fair elections, universal suffrage, freedom of expression and association.
    • Lack of individual rights, rule of law, constraints on the executive by the legislature and high courts
  • Electoral Autocracy, characterized by:
    • Institutions emulating democracy but falling substantially below the threshold for democracy in terms of authenticity or quality.
  • Closed Autocracy, characterized by:
    • An individual or group exercising power largely unconstrained by the people. 

Voting Rights Lab

• votingrightslab.org
  • The Voting Rights Lab is a nonpartisan organization accelerating the movement for free and fair elections through expert analysis, research, and innovations. We track election-related legislation and current law in all 50 states and D.C. in our State Voting Rights Tracker.
• tracker.votingrightslab.org