Journal of Political Science and International Relations

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A Better Place to Be: Republicanism and the Liberal Democracy Index

Received: 02 March 2019    Accepted: 11 April 2019    Published: 15 July 2019
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Abstract

There are no indices of democracy that explicitly are based upon the concept of liberal democracy. Moreover, the political-theoretical concept of republicanism has never been incorporated into any indices of democracy. As a result, there is a disconnect between comparative Politics and Political theory when it comes to the empirical study of democracies. In this article, I discuss the creation of a liberal democracy index, which incorporates both the concept of liberal democracy and that of republicanism into evaluating and categorizing modern political regimes. I look at all sovereign states, both democracies and non-democracies and ultimately categorize all modern political regimes into seven categories, the highest of which is liberal democracy. There are some surprises in the findings in this study. For one thing, France is not a liberal democracy. On the other hand, Nicaragua is not a dictatorship. Only 49 sovereign states are dictatorships. Many states are democracies or republics but not both. The Liberal Democratic Index has the advantage of other indices in explicitly using liberal democracy and republicanism as its conceptual anchors. Instead of using a ranking system, which tends to subjective, this index uses a more objective categorical classification system. This index is much more in keeping with traditional political theory than are the other indices.

DOI 10.11648/j.jpsir.20190202.12
Published in Journal of Political Science and International Relations (Volume 2, Issue 2, June 2019)
Page(s) 39-49
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Liberal Democracy, Republicanism, Democratic Index, Political Regime Typology, Comparative Politics, Political Theory

References
[1] Freedom House. Freedom in the World Report 2018 on Freedom House.org. Accessed online at https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018 on 12/6/2018.
[2] Aristotle. The Athenian Constitution. Translated by Sir Frederic G. Kenyon, 350 B.C. Accessed online at http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/athenian_const.1.1.html on 12/23/018.
[3] Aristotle. The Politics, trans. By Benjamin Jowett, 350 B.C. Accessed online at http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.html on 12/23/2018.
[4] Aristotle. The Politics, trans. by Carnes Lord, First Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.
[5] Plato. The Gorgias, translated by Benjamin Jowett, 380 B.C. Accessed online on 11/2/2018 at http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/gorgias.html.
[6] Philip Pettit, On the People’s Terms: A Republican Theory and Model of Democracy, in its entirety. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Also, Philip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government, Chapters 1-2. Oxford, U.K. and New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
[7] Frank Lovett. A General Theory of Domination and Justice, 26-44, 46-53, 85-93, and 111-119. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2010. Also, Philip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government, in its entirety. Oxford, U.K. and New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
[8] Aristotle, The Politics, trans. by Carnes Lord, First Edition, in its entirety. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984. Pettit, Philip. Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government, in its entirety. Oxford, U.K. and New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
[9] All references in the above paragraphs use the following citation: Norwich, John Julius. A History of Venice, in its entirety. New York: Alfred A, Knopf, Inc., 1982.
[10] Olmstead, A. T. History of the Persian Empire, in its entirety. Chicago and London, UK: The University of Chicago Press, 1948 (1959 paperback edition). Potts, D. T. The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State, in its entirety. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
[11] Herodotus. The Histories, trans. by Tom Holland, introduction by Paul Cartledge, Herodotus 2013, 7.25-27. New York: Viking Penguin, 2013.
[12] The above paragraphs use the following citations: Freedom House, Freedom in the World Report 2018 on Freedom House.org. Accessed online at https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018 on 12/6/2018; Fund for Peace, Fragile State Index Report 2018. Accessed online at http://fundforpeace.org/fsi on 12/6/2018; Pew Research Center, “Government Restrictions Index 2018”, based on 2016 data within Global Uptick in Government Restrictions in 2016. Accessed online from a PDF Report available at http://www.pewforum.org/2018/06/21/number-of-countries-with-very-high-government-restrictions-on-religion-at-highest-level-since-2007/ on 12/6/2018; World Justice Project, Rule of Law Index 2017-2018. Accessed online at http://data.worldjusticeproject.org/ on 12/06/2018.
[13] Vatican City State, “State and Government”, Home Page of Vatican City State. Found at http://www.vaticanstate.va/content/vaticanstate/en/stato-e-governo/note-generali.html on 12/2/2018; Also, Freedom House, Freedom in the World Report 2018 on Freedom House.org. Accessed online at https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018 on 12/6/2018.
[14] Vatican City State, “State and Government”, Home Page of Vatican City State. Found at http://www.vaticanstate.va/content/vaticanstate/en/stato-e-governo/note-generali.html on 12/2/2018.
[15] The above paragraphs use the following citation: Freedom House, Freedom in the World Report 2018 on Freedom House.org. Accessed online at https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018 on 12/6/2018.
[16] Freedom House, Freedom in the World Report 2018 on Freedom House.org, “Denmark Country Report”. Accessed online at https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018 on 12/6/2018; Also, Pew Research Center, “Government Restrictions Index 2018”, based on 2016 data within Global Uptick in Government Restrictions in 2016. Accessed online from a PDF Report available at http://www.pewforum.org/2018/06/21/number-of-countries-with-very-high-government-restrictions-on-religion-at-highest-level-since-2007/ on 12/6/2018; Also, World Justice Project, Rule of Law Index 2017-2018. Accessed online at http://data.worldjusticeproject.org/ on 12/06/2018.
[17] Freedom House, Freedom in the World Report 2018 on Freedom House.org, “France Country Report” and “Denmark Country Report”. Accessed online at https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018 on 12/6/2018; Also, Pew Research Center, “Government Restrictions Index 2018”, based on 2016 data within Global Uptick in Government Restrictions in 2016. Accessed online from a PDF Report available at http://www.pewforum.org/2018/06/21/number-of-countries-with-very-high-government-restrictions-on-religion-at-highest-level-since-2007/ on 12/6/2018.
[18] Freedom House, Freedom in the World Report 2018 on Freedom House.org, “Nicaragua Country Report”. Accessed online at https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018 on 12/6/2018.
Author Information
  • Department of History and Social Sciences, Middlesex County College, Edison, United States

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    Christopher Binetti. (2019). A Better Place to Be: Republicanism and the Liberal Democracy Index. Journal of Political Science and International Relations, 2(2), 39-49. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jpsir.20190202.12

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    Christopher Binetti. A Better Place to Be: Republicanism and the Liberal Democracy Index. J. Polit. Sci. Int. Relat. 2019, 2(2), 39-49. doi: 10.11648/j.jpsir.20190202.12

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    Christopher Binetti. A Better Place to Be: Republicanism and the Liberal Democracy Index. J Polit Sci Int Relat. 2019;2(2):39-49. doi: 10.11648/j.jpsir.20190202.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jpsir.20190202.12,
      author = {Christopher Binetti},
      title = {A Better Place to Be: Republicanism and the Liberal Democracy Index},
      journal = {Journal of Political Science and International Relations},
      volume = {2},
      number = {2},
      pages = {39-49},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jpsir.20190202.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jpsir.20190202.12},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jpsir.20190202.12},
      abstract = {There are no indices of democracy that explicitly are based upon the concept of liberal democracy. Moreover, the political-theoretical concept of republicanism has never been incorporated into any indices of democracy. As a result, there is a disconnect between comparative Politics and Political theory when it comes to the empirical study of democracies. In this article, I discuss the creation of a liberal democracy index, which incorporates both the concept of liberal democracy and that of republicanism into evaluating and categorizing modern political regimes. I look at all sovereign states, both democracies and non-democracies and ultimately categorize all modern political regimes into seven categories, the highest of which is liberal democracy. There are some surprises in the findings in this study. For one thing, France is not a liberal democracy. On the other hand, Nicaragua is not a dictatorship. Only 49 sovereign states are dictatorships. Many states are democracies or republics but not both. The Liberal Democratic Index has the advantage of other indices in explicitly using liberal democracy and republicanism as its conceptual anchors. Instead of using a ranking system, which tends to subjective, this index uses a more objective categorical classification system. This index is much more in keeping with traditional political theory than are the other indices.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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