Democracy: Popular rule or Expert governance?

Where the library sits on this axis

The 112 written profiles are each stored with one value for this axis, written by hand. These are the ones furthest toward either end, and the ones closest to the middle.

These are editorial readings of the positions, not measurements of any party, movement or voter, and every vector is open to disagreement. Every profile, all three sets →

The statements that measure this axis

The question bank holds 10 statements for democracy: 5 coded so that agreement counts toward Expert governance, and 5 coded the other way, toward Popular rule. The Short version draws 3 of them, Standard 5 and Deep 10.

• “Major decisions should be taken by people with relevant training rather than by popular vote.” agreeing counts toward Expert governance
• “Referendums are a healthy check on elected politicians.” agreeing counts toward Popular rule
• “Voters reward short-term promises, so some budgets should be shielded from politics.” agreeing counts toward Expert governance
• “A parliament that ignores public opinion loses its legitimacy.” agreeing counts toward Popular rule
• “Central banks and constitutional courts work better when insulated from electoral pressure.” agreeing counts toward Expert governance
• “Ordinary citizens can be trusted with complex political questions.” agreeing counts toward Popular rule
• “Scientific advice should carry more weight in lawmaking than campaign slogans.” agreeing counts toward Expert governance
• “Recall votes and citizen initiatives should be available at national level.” agreeing counts toward Popular rule
• “Representatives usually understand the trade-offs better than the people who elect them.” agreeing counts toward Expert governance
• “Political authority comes from the consent of the governed, not from expertise.” agreeing counts toward Popular rule

How this axis is scored

Each statement is answered on a five-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. On this axis, 5 statements count agreement toward Expert governance and 5 count it toward Popular rule, so a run where you agree with everything does not drift to one end.

The two directions are averaged separately and then weighted equally, and the result is reported between −100 and +100: negative toward Popular rule, positive toward Expert governance. A statement you skip is not counted on this axis at all, so skipping never moves the score. Anything inside ±12 is recorded as centred rather than as a lean.

The same twelve values are what your result is matched against. How scoring works, in full →