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The Everyday Democracy Index The EverydayThe Democracy Index What are the most democratic countries in Europe? ‘‘We need to dig deeper How would we find out? This pamphlet sets out to answer these questions through a new approach to comparing the democratic health of nations: the Everyday Democracy than voter turnout to Index (EDI). The EDI attempts to measure the lived experience of democracy in 25 European countries. It takes as its starting point the idea that this experience is find out how European only partially defined by what happens in the traditional arenas of elections and formal politics. The pamphlet democracies really demonstrates that how effectively countries empower individuals in more everyday spheres like families, | communities, workplaces and public services makes a big SkidmorePaul · Kirsten Bound measure up...’’ difference to the health of their formal democracy. It also shows that the strength of Everyday Democracy is very closely related to levels of life satisfaction, social trust, and social and gender equality. THE EVERYDAY Paul Skidmore is a Demos Associate, and a McConnell DEMOCRACY INDEX Fellow and MPA candidate at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Kirsten Bound is a senior researcher at Demos. Paul Skidmore Kirsten Bound ISBN 978-1-84180-193-3 £10 © Demos 2008 Who we are Demos is the think tank for everyday democracy. We believe everyone should be able to make personal choices in their daily lives that contribute to the common good. Our aim is to put this democratic idea into practice by working with organisations in ways that make them more effective and legitimate. What we work on We focus on seven areas: public services; science and technology; cities and public space; people and communities; families and care; arts and culture; and global security. Who we work with Our partners include policy-makers, companies, public service providers and social entrepreneurs. Demos is not linked to any party but we work with politicians across political divides. Our international network – which extends across eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Australia, Brazil, India and China – provides a global perspective and enables us to work across borders. How we work Demos knows the importance of learning from experience. We test and improve our ideas in practice by working with people who can make change happen. Our collaborative approach means that our partners share in the creation and ownership of new ideas. What we offer We analyse social and political change, which we connect to innovation and learning in organisations. We help our partners show thought leadership and respond to emerging policy challenges. How we communicate As an independent voice, we can create debates that lead to real change. We use the media, public events, workshops and publications to communicate our ideas. All our books can be downloaded free from the Demos website. www.demos.co.uk THE EVERYDAY DEMOCRACY INDEX Paul Skidmore Kirsten Bound First published in 2008 © Demos Some rights reserved See copyright licence for details ISBN 978 1 84180 193 3 Copy edited by Julie Pickard, London Series design by modernactivity Typeset by modernactivity Printed by Lecturis Set in Gotham Rounded and Baskerville 10 Cover paper: Flora Gardenia (50% pcw recycled) Text paper: Munken Premium White (FSC Mixed Sources) Open access. Some rights reserved. Contents As the publisher of this work, Demos has an open access policy which enables anyone to access our content electronically without charge. We want to Acknowledgements 6 encourage the circulation of our work as widely as possible without affecting the ownership of the copyright, which remains with the copyright holder. Users are welcome to download, save, perform or distribute this work electronically or Foreword 7 in any other format, including in foreign language translation, without written permission subject to the conditions set out in the Demos open access licence, Executive summary 9 which you can read at the back of this publication. Please read and consider the full licence. The following are some of the conditions imposed by the licence: 1 The case for Everyday Democracy 17 · Demos and the author(s) are credited · The Demos website address www.demos.co.uk is published together with a copy of 2 Europe’s democratic malaise 29 this policy statement in a prominent position · The text is not altered and is used in full (the use of extracts under existing fair usage 3 Measuring democracy: a brief history 43 rights is not affected by this condition) · The work is not resold 4 Designing the Everyday Democracy Index: 51 · A copy of the work or link to its use online is sent to the address below for our archive: overview, choices and methods Copyright Department, Demos Magdalen House, 136 Tooley Street 5 The first dimension: Electoral and 61 London SE1 2TU, United Kingdom Procedural democracy [email protected] You are welcome to ask for permission to use this work for purposes other 6 The second dimension: 69 than those covered by the Demos open access licence. Demos gratefully Activism and civic Participation acknowledges the work of Lawrence Lessig and Creative Commons, which inspired our approach to copyright. The Demos circulation licence is adapted from the ‘attribution/no derivatives/non-commercial’ version of the Creative 7 The third dimension: 75 Commons licence. To find out more about Creative Commons licences go to Deliberation and Aspiration www.creativecommons.org 8 The fourth dimension: Family democracy 81 9 The fifth dimension: democratic Public Services 89 10 The sixth dimension: democratic Workplaces 97 11 Overview and analysis 103 12 Conclusion 125 Notes 129 The Everyday Democracy Index 7 Acknowledgements Foreword We would like to thank all those individuals who contributed What are the most democratic countries in Europe? How to the development of the EDI as well as those who would we find out? These are the two questions this pamphlet commented on earlier drafts. Outside Demos, special thanks sets out to answer. It does so through a new approach to goes to Tom Bentley, former Demos director and the architect comparing the democratic health of nations: the Everyday of the idea of Everyday Democracy. We are also grateful to Democracy Index (EDI). Anthony Barnett, James Crabtree, John Craig, Eddie Gibb, We want to make clear from the outset that we see the Ravi Gurumurthy, Peter Macleod and Sophia Parker for their EDI as a way of answering both questions – the what and the valuable contributions. We would like to thank a group at how – and that we consider each to be as important as the other. the LSE Capstone programme for their critical analysis of In answer to the first question, the EDI attempts to the Index and advice on some of the methodological issues. measure the lived experience of democracy in different We are grateful for the time of our numerous interviewees, countries, so that judgements can be reached, comparisons including Mette and Johan Abrahamsen, Knud Nordentoft, made, and inferences drawn. It takes as its starting point the Paul Hilder, Malene Gram, Francis Irving and Lolita idea that this experience is only partially defined by what Cigane, as well as the holiday-makers at Heathrow airport. In happens in the traditional arenas of elections and formal constructing the Everyday Democracy Index we drew heavily politics. These are important, indispensable, irreplaceable. on several extraordinarily rich sources of data for comparative But they are also insufficient, and we aim to show why. Our work such as this, including the World Values Survey, essential claim is that modern democracies must be Everyday Eurobarometer and the European Working Conditions Democracies: they must be rooted in a culture in which Survey. Data were accessed via the UK Data Archive and the democratic values and practices shape not just the formal sphere Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. of politics, but the informal spheres of everyday life. In support At Demos, director Catherine Fieschi has provided of this contention, we offer evidence that the countries that have crucial support from the beginning and we are also most successfully practised Everyday Democracy have managed grateful to Alessandra Buonfino, Peter Harrington, to empower individuals in private as well as public domains, Shawnee Keck, Niamh Gallagher, Charlie Tims and and show that our measure of Everyday Democracy is closely the rest of the Demos staff and interns. correlated with a range of other measures of national success. While we have benefited enormously from all these In answer to the second question, we approach this task contributions, all errors and omissions remain our own. in an experimental spirit. We argued long and hard about the design of the Index and the indicators that compose it. Paul Skidmore, Kirsten Bound We believe our methodology, though leaving plenty of room January 2008 for improvement, is robust. But in the end, we view this as a prototype. We want it to provoke debate and raise as many questions as it answers. We want the process of communicating it to generate ideas for refining and improving it. Above all, we want it to start conversations, not end them. To join the conversation visit www.everydaydemocracy.com The Everyday Democracy Index 9 Executive summary We are children of our age, it’s a political age. All day long, all through the night, All affairs – yours, ours, theirs – Introduction are political affairs. This pamphlet sets out a new approach to measuring the democratic health of European countries: the Everyday Whether you like it or not, Democracy Index (EDI). your genes have a political past, Over the last few years there has been much discussion your skin, a political cast, of the ‘democratic deficit’ in European countries. Many your eyes, a political slant.
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