Longtermist democracy / institutional quality index
Values and Reflective Processes, Epistemic Institutions
Several indices exist to quantify the degree of liberal democracy in all countries and territories around the world, like Freedom in the World and the EIU’s Democracy Index. These indices are convenient for describing and comparing the state of liberal democracy in different countries, because they distill the various complicated aspects of a state’s political system into one or more numbers that are easy for a layperson to understand.
We propose a “democracy index” that emphasizes the qualities of political systems that are most relevant to making the long-term future go well. Such qualities could include voting systems, free and fair elections, voter competence, and capacity for long-term planning in government—and the set of qualities used could be based on research such as this post. This index would help make analysis of countries and territories’ political systems more accessible to EAs/longtermists who aren’t political scientists, since it would distill them down to a few easy-to-understand numbers. It would also help the longtermist community track progress towards better political systems and identify opportunities to improve institutions.
Longtermist democracy / institutional quality index
Values and Reflective Processes, Epistemic Institutions
Several indices exist to quantify the degree of liberal democracy in all countries and territories around the world, like Freedom in the World and the EIU’s Democracy Index. These indices are convenient for describing and comparing the state of liberal democracy in different countries, because they distill the various complicated aspects of a state’s political system into one or more numbers that are easy for a layperson to understand.
We propose a “democracy index” that emphasizes the qualities of political systems that are most relevant to making the long-term future go well. Such qualities could include voting systems, free and fair elections, voter competence, and capacity for long-term planning in government—and the set of qualities used could be based on research such as this post. This index would help make analysis of countries and territories’ political systems more accessible to EAs/longtermists who aren’t political scientists, since it would distill them down to a few easy-to-understand numbers. It would also help the longtermist community track progress towards better political systems and identify opportunities to improve institutions.
See also: the CGD’s Commitment to Development Index