Abstract Syfte: Studien grundar sig på ett problemområde gällande uteslutandet av kvinnlig rösträtt i demokratimätningar. Syftet är att undersöka hur demokratimått förändras när kvinnlig rösträtt tas med i mätningarna. Studien analyserar två klassiker inom demokratiforskning, Seymour Lipset (1959) och Samuel P. Huntington (1991) samt tre modernare demokratimått (Democracy index, BMR, Polity IV Revised combined score).   Teori: Studien utgår ifrån en teori hämtad från Pamela Paxton (1995). Teorin handlar om konsekvenser och kritik mot demokratiforskare som uteslutit kvinnlig rösträtt i mått på demokrati.   Metod: En kvantitativ metod i form av statistisk dataanalys har använts. Med hjälp av tidsserier har jämförelser över införandet av demokrati samt kvinnlig rösträtt genomförts.   Resultat: Resultatet visar att Paxtons kritik är befogad samt bekräftar hennes teori och slutsatser. Införandet av kvinnlig rösträtt i ovannämnda demokratimått innebär en förändring för de studier där måtten har använts.   Nyckelord: kvinnlig rösträtt, demokrati, demokratisk transition, Huntington, Lipset, Paxton, women’s suffrage

As our world globalizes and grows smaller, there is increasing concern about questions related to the future of liberal democracy. Following the breakdown of communism on the European continent and the ensuing emphasis on the universalization of liberal democratic values as ‘the end of history’, much research has been centered on understanding the crafting of stable democratic systems in East-Central Europe. Recently, the widely observed phenomenon of ‘illiberal backsliding’ has evoked considerable scholarly attention. However, the research community lacks a deeper understanding of the factors determining the prospects of sustainable democratic consolidation in a post-authoritarian environment. This case study therefore relates the problems associated with anchoring democratic governance in the post-communist states of East-Central Europe to a broader framework of democratization theories. It is argued that consolidating democracies is a far more complex task than has earlier been acknowledged, as it depends on a multitude of interrelated socio-cultural and political determinants. As is further proposed, the post-communist countries have largely been entrapped in an unsustainable state of incomplete democratic consolidation, evident specifically in the prevalent lack of civic culture and a deficient process of citizenship formation, entailing a serious risk of authoritarian backlash. A somewhat paradoxical hypothesis is suggested: that periods of illiberal government actually could be instrumental to generate the kind of social community needed for a long-term sustainable democratic society. In a concluding discussion on the prospects of consolidating democracy on a global scale, it is stated that the liberal democratic endeavor may be facing two future trajectories: while the first one is that of a global democratic decline in the face of authoritarian reaction, the opposite trajectory implies that liberal democracy may well have a universal future, although to accelerate to that point, it needs to overcome an initial state of instability requiring some setbacks.