Measuring effective democracy: A defense

Abstract

Against recent criticism, this article demonstrates that the effective democracy index (EDI) has scale properties that are fully consistent with the normative premises of the index’s construction logic. Empirically, it is shown that the EDI deviates from all other indices of democracy in a perfectly intended way that incorporates substantiating qualities of democracy which the other indices neglect. As a result, the EDI outperforms all other democracy indices in its associative strength with key theoretical correlates of democracy, conditional and consequential. From a substantive point of view, the EDI is the most reliable and valid index of democracy that is currently available.