Yes, of course it’s a survey of how people feel about their systems. Most western “democracy indexes” just define democracy loosely around whatever the Nordics are doing, and as such countries with very different democratic systems like China score very low. This shows that that’s not really accurate, the people of China like the system and believe it delivers well for what it does.
Well, yes - this is an opinion poll, it’s not a measure based on real metrics of performance, it’s entirely based on perception.
Which is my whole point: you stating that china is among the more comprehensively democratic countries on the list is a misuse of the infographic. You might hold that opinion, it might be true, but the image you’ve posted is completely disconnected with supporting that claim.
How would you measure how comprehensively democratic a country is, if not by asking people how well it functions in getting across the will of the majority?
I suspect I would start by setting out to write a report that attempts to answer that question, instead of one like this, which makes it very clear that it’s not a document which answers that question.
This pretty clearly answers how people feel about their systems, and considering democracy is will of the majority, it makes sense to begin with how people feel about their country in doing so.
That seems spurious, and I’d like to see some evidence supporting that there’s validity in that position before I entertained the idea that it’s a valid metric with which one could evaluate ‘democracy’.
Perhaps you could even do a study on that subject?
Regardless of you trying to shift the scope here, the study emphatically does not support the conclusion you attempted to use it to draw. You can ruminate on the philosophical cud that is opinion polling all you like, but that was not the object of the study, and it’s fundamentally dishonest to present it like it supports your claims.
Yes, of course it’s a survey of how people feel about their systems. Most western “democracy indexes” just define democracy loosely around whatever the Nordics are doing, and as such countries with very different democratic systems like China score very low. This shows that that’s not really accurate, the people of China like the system and believe it delivers well for what it does.
Well, yes - this is an opinion poll, it’s not a measure based on real metrics of performance, it’s entirely based on perception.
Which is my whole point: you stating that china is among the more comprehensively democratic countries on the list is a misuse of the infographic. You might hold that opinion, it might be true, but the image you’ve posted is completely disconnected with supporting that claim.
How would you measure how comprehensively democratic a country is, if not by asking people how well it functions in getting across the will of the majority?
I suspect I would start by setting out to write a report that attempts to answer that question, instead of one like this, which makes it very clear that it’s not a document which answers that question.
This pretty clearly answers how people feel about their systems, and considering democracy is will of the majority, it makes sense to begin with how people feel about their country in doing so.
That seems spurious, and I’d like to see some evidence supporting that there’s validity in that position before I entertained the idea that it’s a valid metric with which one could evaluate ‘democracy’.
Perhaps you could even do a study on that subject?
Regardless of you trying to shift the scope here, the study emphatically does not support the conclusion you attempted to use it to draw. You can ruminate on the philosophical cud that is opinion polling all you like, but that was not the object of the study, and it’s fundamentally dishonest to present it like it supports your claims.
I pretty clearly disagree with how you’re reading this.
As does the study itself disagree with your interpretation.
Kinda. Still, I pretty clearly believe that people’s perceptions are the most important for seeing how democratic a system is.