Democratizing Democracy Indices: Towards a More Inclusive Measure

Abstract: Several large, international institutes and think tanks, like Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem), International IDEA, and Freedom House, among others, focus on measuring and tracking government regime types and political environments, primarily through measuring democracies. Yet for all of their sophistication and massive datasets, there are misalignments between democracy scores and human rights for groups that are marginalized in many countries. It is not uncommon for a nation to have a moderate to high democracy rating while a portion of its population experiences a lack of, or attacks on, their basic rights and security. This thesis displays those cleavages and argues for the expansion of democracy indices to better reflect the experiences of the entire populace in democracy measurement, focusing on the LGBTIQ community as a means of argument. Using V- Dem as a jumping off point, I propose four dimensions which include the expansion of V-Dem indicators and the Egalitarian Democracy Index, V-Dem country expert survey development, the standardization of social, health, and crime data, and updates to public opinion polling. These refinements, along with the inclusion of local LGBTIQ activists and scholars through all stages of the process, will make democracy indices more comprehensive and reflective of LGBTIQ lived experiences.