Democratic Tendency Index (DTI): A Normati ve Framework for Signaling Democratic Decline through the Educat ion–Internal Securit y Balance

This paper int roduces the Democrati c Tendency Index (DTI), a novel i ndi catorbased on the ratio of publi c spending on educati on to int ernal security. Grounded indemocrati c t heory and criti cal polit ical thought, the DTI i s desi gned as an earlywarni ng signal of democrat ic decli ne. Unlike existing indi ces, whi ch focus oninstitutional symptoms, t he DTI foregrounds the fi scal choi ces t hat shape citi zenagency or cont rol . This paper lays out the normative rat ional e and dual -methoddesi gn of the DTI, pavi ng t he way for fut ure empi ri cal vali dat ion.