The best measure of democracy is done annually by The Economist. Their methodology consists of answering a 60-point questionnaire with scores of 0, 0.5, or 1. They then take the score from each category (out of ten) and calculate the average across all categories, from the fairness of the electoral process to the openness of government. Here Gabe de Roche presents how he graded the U of T Students’ Union to arrive at the Democracy Score of 6.54 out of 10—on the low end of what The Economist would call a “Flawed Democracy.”
Read de Roche’s commentary
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The Score
Part I. Electoral Process and Pluralism: 5.417 (out of 10)
Part II. Functioning of Government: 5
Part III. Political Participation: 5.556
Part IV. Democratic Political Culture: 9.375
Part V. Civil Liberties: 7.353
Sub-total: 32.701 / 5
= UTSU’s Democracy Score: 6.54 or a “Flawed Democracy” (scores from 6.0 to 7.9)
- Move to another section of the questionnaire
- + Electoral Process and Pluralism
- ++ Functioning Government
- +++ Political Participation
- ++++ Democratic Political Culture
- +++++ Civil Liberties
- ====== [You are here] The Final Tally
