The Varieties of Democracy Core Civil Society Index

41 Pages Posted: 1 Oct 2015 Last revised: 24 May 2016

See all articles by Michael Bernhard

Michael Bernhard

University of Florida

Eitan Tzelgov

University of East Anglia (UEA)

Dong-Joon Jung

University of Florida

Michael Coppedge

University of Notre Dame - Kellogg Institute; University of Notre Dame, Department of Political Science

Staffan I. Lindberg

University of Gothenburg - Varieties of Democracy Institute; University of Gothenburg - Department of Political Science

Date Written: December 2015

Abstract

This paper introduces the Core Civil Society Index (CCSI), a measure of the robustness of civil society, using indicators from the Varieties of Democracy battery on civil society. It begins with a discussion of the reemergence of civil society as a central concept in comparative politics and discusses the existing state of data to capture it. It then discusses the conceptualization behind the CCSI and the construction of the measure. This is followed by a series of face and discriminant validity checks. The paper closes with an example of the CCSI’s utility by examining the question of whether postcommunist civil society is “weak” compared to other regions. We find no evidence that postcommunist civil society is less robust than civil society in other major world regions via time-series cross-sectional analysis using 2999 country-year observations between 1989 and 2012.

Suggested Citation

Bernhard, Michael and Tzelgov, Eitan and Jung, Dong-Joon and Coppedge, Michael and Lindberg, Staffan I., The Varieties of Democracy Core Civil Society Index (December 2015). V-Dem Working Paper 2015:13, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2667493 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2667493

Michael Bernhard (Contact Author)

University of Florida ( email )

Eitan Tzelgov

University of East Anglia (UEA) ( email )

Norwich Research Park
Norwich, Norfolk NR4 7TJ
United Kingdom

Dong-Joon Jung

University of Florida ( email )

PO Box 117165, 201 Stuzin Hall
Gainesville, FL 32610-0496
United States

Michael Coppedge

University of Notre Dame - Kellogg Institute ( email )

Hesburgh Center
Notre Dame, IN 46556
United States

University of Notre Dame, Department of Political Science

216 Hesburgh Center
Notre Dame, IN New South Wales 46556-5646
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.nd.edu/~mcoppedg/crd

Staffan I. Lindberg

University of Gothenburg - Varieties of Democracy Institute ( email )

Sprängkullsgatan 19
Gothenburg, Gothenburg 405 30
Sweden

HOME PAGE: http://v-dem.net

University of Gothenburg - Department of Political Science ( email )

Box 711
Gothenburg, S-405 30
Sweden

HOME PAGE: http://www.pol.gu.se

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