QoG Data

The Polity project is one of the most widely used data resources for studying regime change and the effects of regime authority. Polity5 Project, Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1800-2018, annual, cross-national, time-series and polity-case formats coding democratic and autocratic ''patterns of authority'' and regime changes in all independent countries with a total population greater than 500,000 in 2018 (167 countries in 2018).

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Variables in this dataset:

Regime Durability

QoG Code: p_durable

Regime Durability: The number of years since the most recent regime change (defined by a three point change in the p_polity score over a period of three years or less) or the end of a transition period defined by the lack of stable political institutions (denoted by a standardized authority score). In calculating the p_durable value, the first year during which a new (post-change) polity is established is coded as the baseline ``year zero'' (value = 0) and each subsequent year adds one to the value of the p_durable variable consecutively until a new regime change or transition period occurs.

More about this variable

Revised Combined Polity Score

QoG Code: p_polity2

Revised Combined Polity Score: The polity score is computed by subtracting the p_autoc score from the p_democ score; the resulting unified polity scale ranges from +10 (strongly democratic) to -10 (strongly autocratic). The revised version of the polity variable is designed to facilitate the use of the polity regime measure in time-series analyses. It modifies the combined annual polity score by applying a simple treatment, or 'fix' to convert instances of 'standardized authority scores' (i.e., -66, -77, and -88) to conventional polity scores (i.e., within the range, -10 to +10). The values have been converted according to the following rule set: (-66) Cases of foreign 'interruption' are treated as 'system missing.' (-77) Cases of 'interregnum', or anarchy, are converted to a 'neutral' Polity score of '0.' (-88) Cases of 'transition' are prorated across the span of the transition. For example, country X has a p_polity score of -7 in 1957, followed by three years of -88 and, finally, a score of +5 in 1961. The change (+12) would be prorated over the intervening three years at a rate of per year, so that the converted scores would be as follow: 1957 -7; 1958 -4; 1959 -1; 1960 +2; and 1961 +5.