Measuring Militant Democracy: Understanding Democratic Defense in Contemporary Europe

Since Karl Lowenstein’s seminal essays introducing the concept of “Militant Democracy” (MD) as a system that prevents the use of democratic means for undemocratic ends, it has been a constant in discussions of radical right parties. However, studies aiming to measure MD have often focused exclusively on party bans or have grouped these measures under umbrella categories of restricting rights. This study introduces an index that looks at legal and value-driven dimensions of MD to contribute an empirical tool for researchers examining the resiliency of democracy in the face of illiberal parties. The index contextualizes itself in two streams of literature. The first is the evolution of the term MD as not exclusively focused on fascism, but also as an anti-racist tool. As such, its modern conception highlights the threat of the radical right targeted at minority communities. Secondly, it takes its conceptual basis in the illiberal literature that recognizes radical right parties as opposition to liberal values of inclusivity, plurality, and human dignity. The index examines two crucial dimensions, each consisting of two or three indicators. The Legal Dimension examines the actionable legal landscape a country establishes that could be used as opposition against a radical right party. This is made up of three indicators. The Party Banning component examines whether a democracy has legal tools to outlaw political parties that threaten a country’s democratic order. It considers both complete banning mechanisms and partial measures like the withdrawal of funding. The Democratic Value element evaluates whether political parties must commit to democratic principles in their charters or operations. Lastly, the Hate Speech indicators assess the legal framework for addressing hate speech and discriminatory expression. The second dimension is the Value Dimension, which seeks to measure the strength of liberal and inclusive values on which the Legal Dimension is anchored. This includes the Anti-Discrimination indicators that evaluate the comprehensiveness of constitutional protections against discrimination. It specifically looks beyond gender equality to examine protections for racial minorities, LGBTQ+ communities, people with disabilities, and women. Strong anti-discrimination frameworks indicate a democracy's commitment to inclusive participation. Secondly, the Human Dignity Dimension analyzes how fundamentally a democracy considers human dignity in its constitutional framework. The recognition of human dignity as a basic right often serves as a foundation for other democratic protections and reflects a democracy's commitment to protecting individual rights and freedoms. The index considers constitutions, party laws, criminal codes, and (if present) hate speech legislation to code each indicator on a scale from 0 to 1, with two intermediary categories to reflect different occurrences of each. This first presentation of the MD Index includes 16 Western European countries in which a radical right party is currently active. In doing so, this study examines historical, regional, and institutional patterns in understanding the current MD landscape.