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Noble and sensible motives have led political scientists to begin to focus on the quality of democracy, but this area of study raises questions that lead to the deepest regions of political philosophy and are not easily resolvable within the boundaries of empirical political science. Studies of the quality of democracy face two principal complications: First, modern democracy has a composite nature, and its liberal and majoritarian aspects are frequently in conflict with each other. Second, democracy is a form of government, and maximizing democracy may be in tension with effective governance. On the practical level, there is a danger that assessments of the quality of democracy may be distorted by the political biases of the assessors.