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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
The Quality of Democracy: Freedom as the Foundation
Contributor:
Beetham, David
Published:
Project MUSE, 2004
Published in:
Journal of Democracy, 15 (2004) 4, Seite 61-75
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1353/jod.2004.0057
ISSN:
1086-3214
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
Abstract: The paper begins by exploring the conceptual links between freedom, rights and democracy, and the institutional arrangements necessary to guarantee civil and political rights and fundamental freedoms in a democracy. It then sets out a procedure for assessing the quality of a country’s democracy in four successive steps: defining the appropriate democratic ‘goods’; identifying standards of best practice as a benchmark for the attainment of each of these ‘goods’; analyzing the typical modes of subversion which may prevent their attainment; and exploring possible agencies of protection against these subversions. After applying each of these steps to the subject of civil and political rights, the paper concludes with a reservation about the limits of purely institutional indicators.