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Sustainable Development: A “Fourth” Dimension for Democracy Measurement?. David F. J. Campbell University of Klagenfurt / Faculty for Interdisciplinary Studies ( iff Fakultät) david.campbell@uni-klu.ac.at
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Sustainable Development:A “Fourth” Dimension for Democracy Measurement? David F. J. Campbell University of Klagenfurt / Faculty for Interdisciplinary Studies (iff Fakultät) david.campbell@uni-klu.ac.at Presentation for “Measuring Democracy” IPSA Workshop(University of Frankfurt): October 1, 2013
Table of Contents • Conceptual Point of Departure • Sustainable Development: A “Fourth” Dimension? • Conclusion: Output and/or Input • References
Conceptual Point of Departure (1) • How broadly (or narrowly) should democracy be defined? • Democracy as a concept of the political system … • versus democracy as a concept of the political system in context of society (and the economy).
Conceptual Point of Departure (2) • Hans-Joachim Lauth (2004, pp. 32-101) suggests a “three-dimensional concept of democracy” that identifies three dimensions: equality, freedom and control. According to Lauth (2004, p. 96), these three dimensions are sufficient for a definition of democracy (see also Lauth 2010 and 2011).
Conceptual Point of Departure (3) • The international “Democracy Barometer” refers to the same three dimensions: • “In the understanding of the Democracy Barometer project, democracy rests on three principles: freedom, control and equality ” (http://www.democracybarometer.org/concept_en.html).
Conceptual Point of Departure (4) • Larry Diamond and Leonardo Morlino (2004, pp. 22-23), in consequence of designing a “multidimensional” framework for research and assessment of quality of democracy, suggest furthermore “eight dimensions of democratic quality”.
Conceptual Point ofDeparture (5) Source for Figure: Campbell, 2008.
Conceptual Point of Departure (5) • Guillermo O’Donnell defines quality of democracy as an interplay (interconnection) of “human rights” and “human development”.
Conceptual Point of Departure (6) Source for Figure: Campbell, 2008.
Conceptual Point of Departure (7) • O’Donnell (2004, pp. 12-13): “... what may be, at least, a minimum set of conditions, or capabilities, that enable human beings to function in ways appropriate to their condition as such beings … This vision leads to the question of what may be the basic conditions that normally enable an individual to function as an agent”.
Conceptual Point of Departure (8) • O’Donnell (2004, p. 42): “These are necessary milieus for the existence of these rights, which in their social expression I have called freedoms”.
Conceptual Point of Departure (9) • Guillermo O’Donnell refers “human development” directly to the “Human Development Index” (HDI) of the United Nations (UNDP). • The HDI aggregates: (1) life expectancy, (2) wealth (GDP per capita) and (3) education (literacy).
Sustainable Development: A “Fourth” Dimension? (1) • Sustainable Development as a concept relates to (and integrates) “human development”. • There is a rich and well-developed discourse in and on sustainable development. • So far, sustainable development was not typically associated to quality of democracy (discourses).
Sustainable Development: A “Fourth” Dimension? (2) • Should sustainable development be added as a “fourth” dimension of democracy and quality of democracy (in extension of freedom, equality and control), then a “Quadruple Structure” of dimensions (basic dimensions) of democracy (and quality of democracy) results.
Sustainable Development: A “Fourth” Dimension? (3) Source for Figure: Campbell & Carayannis, 2013.
Sustainable Development: A “Fourth” Dimension? (4) • Sustainable development emphasizes: • Development across a broader spectrum of dimensions (spheres), by recognizing the political system, society, economy, but also the ecology; • Mid-term and long-term perspective (versus short-term); • Sustainable development translates “abstract” rights into “real” (social) freedoms (compare also with O’Donnell); • Sensitivity for practices.
Sustainable Development: A “Fourth” Dimension? (5) • Sustainable development can also refer to how “freedom”, “equality” and “control” relate to each other and (furthermore) to “conceptual attributes” within these three dimensions and their interconnections. • Sustainable development does not refer only to the “non-political”. However, sustainable development brings the “non-political” into perspective for a democracy measurement.
Sustainable Development: A “Fourth” Dimension? (6) • Sustainable development (probably) supports a broader conceptualization of democracy: • Sustainable development has the (conceptual) capability of inter-linking and bridging the political with the non-political (i.e.,the socio-economic and ecological context of the political system).
Sustainable Development: A “Fourth” Dimension? (7) • Particularly for a global comparison of democracies (democracies, semi-democracies and non-democracies), also in different (socio-economic) developmental stages, “sustainable development” allows to distinguish (or formulate hypotheses) between different levels and levels of progress of quality of democracy.
Sustainable Development: A “Fourth” Dimension? (8) • Should sustainable development be added as a fourth dimension to democracy and quality of democracy, then this clearly would impact democracy measurement. • In dependence of the concrete conceptualization of sustainable development, very different and additional indicators may be further included.
Conclusion: Output and/or Input (1) • Quality-of-democracy measurement always is challenged to actually measure democracy and not how “conservative”, “liberal” or “social democratic” a democracy (country) is (when we understand democracy as “meta” to ideologies). • So how to embed a left/right neutrality for democracy measurement?
Conclusion: Output and/or Input (2) • Under specific conditions (which would have to be exemplified), the “performance” of indicators could be “interpreted” as a form of output (outcome). • “Performance” orientation (also sustainable development) may help to achieve more of a “left/right” neutrality.
Conclusion: Output and/or Input (3) Source for Figure: Campbell, 2008.
Conclusion: Output and/or Input (4) Source for Figure: Campbell, 2012.
Conclusion: Output and/or Input (5) • (1) Sustainable development as a performance-based output (outcome), also reflecting the effectiveness of policies (“responsible behavior” of the political system), and (2) sustainable development as an input (“capability-enhancing basic conditions”) for freedom and equality (and control).
Conclusion: Output and/or Input (6) • Freedom, equality, control, and sustainable development (suggested as basic dimensions of democracy) could equally be discussed under considerations of “input”, “throughput” and “output” (outcome). • Metaphorically speaking, they relate to each other in a flexible “matrix structure”.
Conclusion: Output and/or Input (7) Source for Figure: Campbell, 2013.
References (1) • Campbell, David F. J. (2008). The Basic Concept for the Democracy Ranking of the Quality of Democracy. Vienna: Democracy Ranking (http://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/29063 and http://democracyranking.org/wordpress/ranking/basic_concept.pdf). • Campbell, David F. J. (2012). Die österreichische Demokratiequalität in Perspektive [The Quality of Democracy in Austria in Perspective], 293-315, in: Ludger Helms / David M. Wineroither (eds.): Die österreichische Demokratie im Vergleich [Austrian Democracy in Comparison]. Baden-Baden: Nomos (http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/wiho/downloads/QoD-Text_12.pdf). • Campbell, David F. J. (2013). Habilitation (in progress). Vienna: University of Vienna.
References (2) • Campbell, David F. J. / Elias G. Carayannis (2013). Quality of Democracy and Innovation, 1527-1534, in: Elias G. Carayannis (Editor-in-Chief): Encyclopedia of Creativity, Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. New York, NY: Springer (http://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4614-3858-8_509#). • Dahl, Robert A. (1971). Polyarchy. Participation and Opposition. New Haven: Yale University Press. • Diamond, Larry / Leonardo Morlino (2004). The Quality of Democracy. An Overview. Journal of Democracy 15 (4), 20-31. • Lauth, Hans-Joachim (2004). Demokratie und Demokratiemessung. Eine konzeptionelle Grundlegung für den interkulturellen Vergleich. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
References (3) • Lauth, Hans-Joachim (2010). Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Demokratiemessung. Zeitschrift für Staats- und Europawissenschaften 8 (4), 498-529. • Lauth, Hans-Joachim (2011). Qualitative Ansätze der Demokratiemessung. Zeitschrift für Staats- und Europawissenschaften 9 (1), 49-77. • O’Donnell, Guillermo (2004). Human Development, Human Rights, and Democracy, 9-92, in: Guillermo O’Donnell / Jorge Vargas Cullell / Osvaldo M. Iazzetta (eds.): The Quality of Democracy. Theory and Applications. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.