The WhoGov dataset enables researchers to take a new approach to studying governing elites in autocracies and democracies. The authors provide bibliographic information, such as gender and party affiliation, on cabinet members in July every year in the period 1966-2021 in all countries with a population of more than 400,000 citizens. In total, the dataset contains data on 50,197 cabinet members in 177 countries, adding up to 8,057 country-years. WhoGov makes it possible to answer questions such as; what is the share of female cabinet members globally, which type of regime has the highest cabinet turnover, and have cabinets increased in size over time? and many others. The dataset is highly flexible and can be used to calculate countless variables of interest, including the number of female ministers, ministerial experience, cabinet turnover and cabinet size at the country-year level.
The data is based on cabinet compositions in July for all years apart from 1966, where data was only available for September and 1970, where we are using January instead of July. Apart from the cross-sectional dataset that is used for the QoG Compilations, within-country dataset is available in the original source.
Last updated by source: 2022-07-20
| Dataset type: | Time-Series |
| Dataset level: | Country |
(Nyrup & Bramwell,
2020)
The number of years the person has been leader of the country in a row, continuous. Thus, it starts over if the leader is removed. The count starts at 1, when the leader first appear as leader in the dataset. Therefore, the measure is imprecise for leaders, who came to power before 1966.
More about this variableNumber of cabinet ministers. This number only include cabinet ministers.
More about this variableAverage age for cabinet ministers (people included for wgov_min).
More about this variableThe number of women in cabinet ministers (people included for wgov_min).
More about this variableThe number of cabinet ministers with a military title. It should be noted that the authors have not done any extra checks on this variable, and solely have relied on the information provided in the "Chief of State And Cabinet Members Of Foreign Governments" directory. The information is based on national customs. Thus, in some countries military titles are consistently used, while this is not the case in other countries, and the authors therefore encourage researchers to be cautious when using this variable.
More about this variableThe average tenure for cabinet ministers (people included for wgov_min).
More about this variableThe share of cabinet ministers (people included for wgov_min), who were in office the previous year. This measure is adjusted for an expansion of the size of wgov_min, so wgov_min stays constant and the retention rate is therefore not influenced by an expansion of the cabinet.
More about this variableNumber of entries for the country in the dataset. This number includes unoccupied positions and multiple positions held by the same persons.
More about this variableAverage age for people in government positions, who were counted for wgov_tot.
More about this variableThe number of women in government positions, who were counted for wgov_tot.
More about this variableThe number of people in government positions with a military title. It should be noted that we have not done any extra checks on this variable, and solely have relied on the information provided in the ''Chief of State And Cabinet Members Of Foreign Governments'' directory. The information is based on national customs. Thus, in some countries military titles are consistently used, while this is not the case in other countries, and we therefore encourage researchers to be cautious when using this variable.
More about this variableThe average tenure for people in government positions, who were counted for wgov_tot.
More about this variableThe share of people in government positions, who were also in office in the previous year. This measure is adjusted for an expansion of the size of wgov_tot, so n_total stays constant and the retention rate is therefore not influenced by an expansion of the cabinet.
More about this variable