Polity IV Country Reports
| Producer |
George Mason University and University of Maryland |
|---|---|
| Stated Purpose |
To provide data sources on the regime and authority characteristics for all independent states with a population of more than 500,000, for the purposes of comparative, quantitative analysis. |
| Area of Governance |
Democracy
|
| Funding Source |
US Government. |
| Current usage |
Provides a database of regime characteristics. |
| Where to find it | |
| Type of data used |
Academic coding of regime characteristics based upon published material. |
| Coverage |
161 countries worldwide. |
| Contact details |
Dr. Monty G. Marshall |
| Methodology |
Assessments by academics based on available literature. Unit of analysis is the polity – a political or governmental organization; a society or institution with an organised government; state; body politic. The dataset is designed to be compatible with the state failure dataset, also produced by the same institution. |
| Format of results |
Each variable has a different scale system. See the Polity IV Project Variables for further information at http://www.systemicpeace.org/inscr/inscr.htm |
| Valid Use |
This data source provides a numerical value for the assessment of regime characteristics at a point in time. It is possible with the dataset to analyse the evolution of regimes over time and space. |
| Invalid Use |
All data coded by a discrete scale will need to assign only a limited number of possible scores to each country (variance truncation). In addition, use over short time periods (year to year) will result in exaggeration of any changes. |
| Assumption |
As with all data sources which rely on coding other material the key assumption is that this material is accurate, representative, and unbiased. Secondly one assumes |
| Example results |
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