Statistical analysis of democracy index

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is statistical analysis for the democracy index data of 167 countries for the period 2006 to 2012 to investigate whether democracy index is progressing day by day? Does democracy make any significant improvement in public life and public trust in political institutions? What are the implications for future progress of democracy? Democracy index is a measure of democratic performance introduced by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The EIU calculated democracy index since 2006 for 167 countries covering almost the entire population of the world.

Design/methodology/approach

As democracy index varies from country to country and over time, the author considers randomized complete bock design for the analysis of variance to test whether there are significant variations among the countries and between time (years). The author also applied Friedman’s test, which is a non-parametric distribution-free test.

Findings

It was found that democracy did not make any significant progress in the study period. Popular confidence in political institutions continues to decline in many full democratic countries. Violence and drug-trafficking have a negative impact on democracy in some countries. Some countries had democratic progress, while some other countries had regression. However, these changes in democratic performances are not statistically significant. As a result, democracy becomes stagnant all over the world.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis is based on only five years of available data.

Practical implications

As democracy becomes stagnant all over the world and the public trust on political institutions and politicians is declining, it is essential to find out the root cause.

Social implications

Democracy is a popular alternative to hybrid or authoritarian regimes, but the nations’ recent democratic transitions had brought no improvements to their lives in the society. God has created us in this world with the rest of creation for a very good reason which was explained in all main religious books. To increase our honesty, character, trust and understanding for becoming a good human, we should follow the divine rules and guidance. Eventually everything will work properly, including democracy.

Originality/value

The author analyzed democracy index data produced by the EIU using statistical techniques, analysis of variance and non-parametric Friedman’s test. Statistical analysis, discussion and conclusion are the author ' s contribution.

Citation

Rahman, M.S. (2014), "Statistical analysis of democracy index", Humanomics, Vol. 30 No. 4, pp. 373-384. https://doi.org/10.1108/H-09-2013-0058