In this chapter, I discuss the measures used to operationalize political repression. Additionally, I discuss the diverse explanatory factors employed in the statistical analyses to test the hypotheses developed in the previous chapter: lagged repression, the difference from regional repressive behavior, diverse forms of political conflict (violent dissent as well as civil and interstate war), and development/modernization (GNP per capita and population size). These variables are used to establish the basic repression model, which is examined with ordered probit, the methodological technique used throughout the book. Following this, the different measures employed to operationalize political democracy (Voice and Veto) are reviewed. Chapter 4 continues the statistical analysis by investigating the direct influence of democracy on repression. In Chapter 5, I assess interactive relationships between democracy and political conflict as they influence repressive behavior.

Measurement

The measurement strategy that one adopts is intricately connected with the research question that one is interested in. As my concern is with the general influence of specific democratic political institutions on state repression, I am interested in what is commonly referred to as a large-N, cross-national examination. Now, it is clear, operationalization across time and space is always a precarious enterprise. Inherently, some do not believe that it is possible to derive valid measures across large numbers of countries because all are unique. Others appear to accept the approach, maintaining that as long as one is careful about what as well as how they measure relevant variables and how they conduct examinations, useful analyses are possible.