Yida Zhai
The Science of Democracy 2.0 challenges current uses of the term 'democracy'. Yida Zhai argues that these uses are not universal but culturally specific. This, he says, makes them inadequate for describing the political realities of the human species as a whole Read more
Antonia May
The rise of right-wing populist parties in Europe led some mainstream parties to attempt to regain voters' support by adopting pro-nationalist and anti-immigrant rhetoric. However, new research by Antonia May and Christian Czymara suggests that this strategy unintentionally benefits far-right parties and not the political mainstream Read more
Anne-Marie Brook
Accurate data are needed to track human rights performance worldwide. But the range of different data sources available can be confusing, especially to non-experts. Anne-Marie Brook and Kobe Amos explain what qualities set Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) data apart Read more
Nicolás Palomo Hernández
The public and the media increasingly use Democratic Global Performance Indicators (GPIs). But how good are these indicators at measuring democratic health? Nicolás Palomo Hernández looks at the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index as an example. He argues that the index has methodological and ideological biases, yet significant impact nonetheless Read more
Avery Reyna
Social scientists are increasingly using quantitative interdisciplinary research methods in the hope of obtaining more nuanced, concrete findings. However, Avery Reyna argues that without proper foresight, relying on these approaches to describe interactions between people, countries, and more complex sociopolitical systems may be harmful to the field overall Read more
William Horncastle
Most nations employ some form of regulation on political finance. William Horncastle explores the different approaches that are taken and presents his recently published open access dataset on political finance systems: the Regulation of Political Finance Indicator Read more
Yida Zhai
Public perceptions of democracy are diverse, and some even see democracy in authoritarian regimes. So directly using ‘democracy’ in surveys is prone to elicit biased responses. Therefore, Yida Zhai argues, it is necessary to conceptualise and operationalise democracy in an alternative manner without using the ‘D-word’ Read more
Eduardo Burkle
Reliable, accessible human rights data is vital to track the human rights performance of countries worldwide. Good data can help create a world where those rights are better understood and fulfilled. Discussing measurement projects, new methodologies, and the limits of human rights data is therefore vital, writes Eduardo Burkle Read more
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