DETERMINING THE CAUSES OF DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION: A CONSIDERATION OF SEVERAL FUZZY METHODS

Abstract

We use techniques of group decision making and consensus under fuzzy preferences and fuzzy majority developed so as to compare five methods used for determining the degree of causality of eight variables for democratic consolidation. In particular for Q denoting the linguistic variable 'most', we determine the fuzzy Q-core, i.e. the fuzzy subset of the set of causal variables that are not defeated (are undominated or unpreferred) by the methods. We also calculate the Q-consensus winner, i.e. the fuzzy subset of causal variables yielding the extent to which one variable is preferred to another, where 'preferred' here means stronger cause for democratic consolidation. Finally, we use the techniques of fuzzy outranking relations in preference modeling to generate relational systems of fuzzy preferences by the five methods used to determine the degree of causality of the causal variables.