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Nordregio WORKING PAPER 2026:9
Towards a democracy index for the Nordic Region?
Myriam Chilvers
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Executive summary
Introduction
PART 1. NORDIC DEMOCRACIES: CONCEPT, MEASUREMENT AND TRENDS
The concept of “Nordic democracies”
Key features of the Nordic Model
The global trend of democratic backsliding
Nordic democracies under pressure
Global democracy indices and Nordic trends
Acknowledging the limitations of democracy indices
Freedom House
Polity
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Democracy Index
Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) democracy indices
Democracy Barometer Quality of Democracy index
European Quality of Government Index
Global State of Democracy Indices (GSoD Indices)
Democracy Perception Index (DPI)
TiNDe: a national democracy assessment for Norway
From performance to measurement gaps
PART 2. ADDRESSING GAPS IN NORDIC DEMOCRACY MEASUREMENT
From fragmented information to a Nordic overview: the synthesis gap
Detecting gradual change and variation: the sensitivity gap
Capturing what is distinctively Nordic: the conceptual gap
Bringing democracy closer to where it is practised: the subnational gap
Completing the Nordic picture: addressing the coverage gap
Conclusion
References
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