Democratic Denmark: Outlier or Town Crier?

Abstract

Denmark is often heralded as a democratic ideal. The Danish democracy appears to ensure representation of its citizenry. Yet, does Denmark, in fact, shine as a democratic leader, a beacon of light in the political darkness? Or does it serve merely as an unworkable utopian outlier? We attempt to answer such questions by analyzing voter data from national studies in Denmark and several other advanced democracies, spanning many decades. We compare three normative, highly relevant, measures of democratic performance: voice, choice, and satisfaction. Voice refers to voter participation in the system. Choice refers to the scope of viable party choices. Satisfaction refers to generalized support for the democracy’s functioning. In combination, these three measures will provide an index of democratic performance. To the extent Denmark obtains distinctively higher performance scores, its role as a” beacon of light” relative to other Western democracies may continue.