ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses precisely on the research agenda on the study of the quality of democracy. It has four main distinguishing features. First, democracy and its qualities, in nowadays political science, which is currently under debate both at scholarly and public/political level. Second, it brings together different generations of scholars on the quality of democracy and democratization. Third, it fills a gap in this literature outlining possible directions of research and future developments, and therefore paving the way for the next generation of study. Fourth, the volume's main original feature lies in the comparative empirical research it provides. The main assumption of the chapter is that there is no unified normative conceptualization of the quality of democracy, nor a best fit methodological approach for studying it empirically. The concept of quality of democracy has only recently become a major topic of investigation in the empirical studies on democracy and democratization.
