Polity IV Project
The project codes the authority characteristics of nation states in the world system for purposes of comparative-quantitative analysis. It scores nation states on a 21-point scale according to its “Polity Score” ranging from - 10 (hereditary monarchy) to + 10 (consolidated democracy).
Data classification: Index of nation states
Region: Global
Time period: 1800-2015
Format: SPSS, MS Excel
Comparative Political Data Set I and III
The "Comparative Political Data Set" (CPDS) is a collection of political and institutional country-level data. It consists of annual data for 36 democratic countries for the period of 1960 to 2014 or since their transition to democracy.
(The present data set combines and replaces the earlier versions “Comparative Political Data Set I” (data for 23 OECD countries from 1960 onwards) and the “Comparative Political Data Set III” (data for 36 OECD and/or EU member states from 1990 onwards). A variable has been added to identify former CPDS I countries).
Data classification: Aggregated on the national level, pooled time-series
Region: 36 democratic countries
Time period: 1960-2014
Format: SPSS, MS Excel
Freedom in the World Country Ratings
Freedom House’s Freedom in the World Country Ratings measures political rights and civil liberties, or the opportunity for individuals to act spontaneously in a variety of fields outside the control of the government and other centers of potential domination. As such, the rating is frequently applied as an index measuring democracy at the national level.
Data classification: Indexes of nation states and territories
Region: Global, 210 countries
Time period: 1973-2016
Format: MS Excel, PDF
The World Bank’s Database of Political Institutions
Election data and expert rating. The rating is primarily based on two sources: The Political Handbook of the World, edited by Arthur Banks, and the Europe Year Book. In addition two on-line sources are credited: The PARLINE database from the International Parliamentary Union and the IFES Election Guide. The database includes variables in the following main areas: Chief executive variables, Party variables in the legislature, Electoral rules, Stability and checks and balances and Federalism.
Data classification: Aggregated on the national level
Region: Global, 178 countries
Time period: 1975- 2012
BLM democracy index on Central America
Bowman, Lehoucq and Mahoney’s (BLM) democracy index used in (2005): "Measuring political democracy - Case expertise, data adequacy, and Central America" in Comparative Political Studies, 38(8): 939-970.
Data classification: Index on the national level
Region: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua
Time period: 1900-2000
Format: MS Excel
Roll Call Votes in the European Parliament
The data sets includes roll call data from the first to the fifth European Parliament (1979-2004). It shows the voting behaviour of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) for each electronically registered vote. It also displays the aggregated voting behaviour of MEPs using nominate scores. The data set does also indicate to which party group and to which national party delegation each MEPs belongs at the beginning of each legislative term.
Data classification: Roll call votes
Region: EU
Time period: 1979-2009
Format: MS Excel
Quality of Government (QoG)
QoG is a time-series dataset containing a database on indicators of Quality of Government across space and time. The database contains variables pertaining to the core features of QoG (such as corruption, bureaucratic quality and democracy).
Data classification: Index, QoG of nation states
Region: Global
Time period: 1946–2006
Format: SPSS, STATA, MS Excel
QoG Expert Survey is a dataset based on our survey of experts on public administration around the world, available in an individual dataset and an aggregated dataset covering 107 countries.
QoG OECD is a newly available dataset published by the QoG Institute. It covers countries who are members of the OECD. The dataset is further distinguished due to its high data coverage in terms geography and time.
The EU Regional Data consists of approximately 450 variables from Eurostat and other sources, covering three levels of European regions - country, major socio-economic regions and basic regions for the application of regional policies.
This dataset concerns corruption on regional level within the EU and the data is based on a survey of 34,000 respondents.
The Worldwide Governance Indicators
The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) project reports governance indicators for six dimensions of governance: Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law and Control of Corruption. The aggregate indicators combine the views of a large number of enterprise, citizen and expert survey respondents in industrial- and developing countries. The individual data sources underlying the aggregate indicators are drawn from a diverse variety of survey institutes, think tanks, non-governmental organizations and international organizations.
Data classification: Global aggregate and nation state level
Region: Global, 215 countries
Time period: 1996–2014
Format: MS Excel