The Comparative Political Data Set 1960-2023 (CPDS) is a collection of political and institutional data that has been assembled in the context of the research projects “Die Handlungsspielräume des Nationalstaates” and “Critical junctures. An international comparison,” directed by Klaus Armingeon and funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. This data set consists of (mostly) annual data for 36 democratic OECD and/or EU-member countries for the period of 1960 to 2023. In all countries, political data were collected only for the democratic periods. The data set is suited for cross-national, longitudinal and pooled time-series analyses.

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.

Dataset type
Time-Series
Dataset level
Country
Last updated by source
2025-06-03

Citation

When using this dataset, please cite as:

• Armingeon, K., Engler, S., Leemann, L., & Weisstanner, D. (2024a). Comparative political data set 1960-2022.
• Armingeon, K., Engler, S., Leemann, L., & Weisstanner, D. (2024b). Supplement to the comparative political data set – government composition 1960-2022.

Variables in this dataset

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Number of changes in government per year [termination of government due to (a) elections, (b) voluntary resignation of the Prime Minister, (c) resignation of Prime Minister due to health reasons, (d) ...

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Effective number of parties on the seats level according to the formula proposed by Laakso and Taagepera (1979).

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Effective number of parties on the votes level according to the formula proposed by Laakso and Taagepera (1979).

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Index of electoral fractionalization of the party system according to the formula proposed by Rae (1968). The index can take values between 1 (maximal fractionalization) and 0 (minimal fractionalizati ...

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Index of legislative fractionalization of the party system according to the formula proposed by Rae (1968). The index can take values between 1 (maximal fractionalization) and 0 (minimal fractionaliza ...

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Cabinet composition (Schmidt-Index): 1. Hegemony of right-wing (and centre) parties. 2. Dominance of right-wing (and centre) parties. 3. Balance of power between left and right. 4. Dominance of ...

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Total government support: seat share of all parties in government. Weighted by the numbers of days in office in a given year.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as agrarian.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as electoral alliance.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as communist.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as conservative.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as ethnic.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as feminist.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as green.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as liberal.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as left-socialist.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as monarchist.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as non-labelled.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as other.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as protest.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as post-communist.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as pensioners.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as personalist.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as right.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as regionalist.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as religious.

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Share of seats in parliament for the political parties classified as social democratic.

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Type of Government
QoG code: cpds_tg

Type of government based on the following classification: 1. Single-party majority government: One party takes all government seats and has a parliamentary majority. 2. Minimal winning coalitio ...

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Share of votes: agrarian
QoG code: cpds_va

Share of votes of the political parties classified as agrarian.

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Share of votes of the political parties classified as electoral alliance.

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Share of votes: communist
QoG code: cpds_vcom

Share of votes of the political parties classified as communist.

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Share of votes: conservative
QoG code: cpds_vcon

Share of votes of the political parties classified as conservative.

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Share of votes: ethnic
QoG code: cpds_ve

Share of votes of the political parties classified as ethnic.

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Share of votes: feminist
QoG code: cpds_vfe

Share of votes of the political parties classified as feminist.

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Share of votes: green
QoG code: cpds_vg

Share of votes of the political parties classified as green.

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Share of votes: liberal
QoG code: cpds_vl

Share of votes of the political parties classified as liberal.

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Share of votes of the political parties classified as left-socialist.

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Share of votes: monarchist
QoG code: cpds_vmo

Share of votes of the political parties classified as monarchist.

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Share of votes of the political parties classified as non-labelled.

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Share of votes: other
QoG code: cpds_vo

Share of votes of the political parties classified as other.

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Share of votes: protest
QoG code: cpds_vp

Share of votes of the political parties classified as protest.

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Share of votes of the political parties classified as post-communist.

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Share of votes: pensioners
QoG code: cpds_vpen

Share of votes of the political parties classified as pensioners.

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Share of votes: personalist
QoG code: cpds_vper

Share of votes of the political parties classified as personalist.

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Share of votes: right
QoG code: cpds_vr

Share of votes of the political parties classified as right.

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Share of votes: regionalist
QoG code: cpds_vreg

Share of votes of the political parties classified as regionalist.

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Share of votes: religious
QoG code: cpds_vrel

Share of votes of the political parties classified as religious.

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Share of votes of the political parties classified as social democratic.

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Voter turnout in election
QoG code: cpds_vt

Voter turnout in election.

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