Measuring civil liberty: an assessment of standards-based data sets

Abstract

This article offers a critical assessment of ten civil liberty measures. The evaluation addresses their focus and scope, conceptualization, measurement, and aggregation. It demonstrates that the measures are marked by differences that are often not only a question of form but also of appropriateness. In general, the justification of choices made in relation to the index constructions are inadequate and among the particular shortcomings we find severe limitations in the years covered, conceptual conflation and redundancy, restrictions on availability of disaggregate data, unsystematic and insufficient coding rules, low discriminatory power, and unfounded aggregation rules. In addition, the measures tap into two distinct types of rights. The findings suggest that more precaution is needed in the development of civil liberty indicators.