ABSTRACT
In Chapter 7, we introduced the student to perhaps the most daunting challenge in cross-national analysis: the need to devise a single valid and reliable empirical measure of a complex and multifaceted concept that captures the full range and richness of the concepts primary properties, without stretching the operational definition of the concept beyond reasonable limits. In this and the next chapter, we explore the logic and mechanics of devising index measures. More specifically, we shall use linear analysis to help us construct a complex measure, or index, of political empowerment from our four primary properties of democracy (CIVIL97, POLIT97, PARCOMP, and PARREG) introduced in Chapter 4 and briefly considered in Chapter 7. From this, we shall then explore the various assumptions that lie behind citizen autonomy. The concept is adapted from David Held's analysis of modern democracy. Citizen autonomy depends upon the political, economic, and social empowerment of citizens within a nation-state. ECON97 and HUMDEV already reflect (through complex indexes) economic and social empowerment, respectively. We must devise a single measure for the third component of citizen autonomy, political empowerment.
