Before starting measuring the quality of democracy, there is a need for clarification of the concept “democracy” (Lauth, 2004, p. 12; Abromeit, 2001, p. 3).1 Particularly, the differentiated classification between regime types as well as within established democracies requires an adequate definition and proper operationalization of democracy (Lauth, 2004, 14). In scientific literature there is an enormous variety of often confounding indicators, dimensions and attributes to assess democratic quality (Lauth 2004, 13; Hadenius 1992, 5). Two different approaches can be distinguished; minimalist and maximalist democracy conceptions (see Figure 1).
Trends in the broadening of concepts