A selection from the Authoritarian Regimes Data Set, v. 5.0

The Authoritarian Regimes Data set by Axel Hadenius, Jan Teorell, & Michael Wahman, described in Hadenius, Axel & Jan Teorell. 2007. "Pathways from Authoritarianism", Journal of Democracy 18(1): 143-156 and Wahman, Michael, Jan Teorell, and Axel Hadenius. 2013. Authoritarian regime types revisited: updated data in comparative perspective. Contemporary Politics 19 (1): 19-34. The dataset and codebook can be downloaded from https://sites.google.com/site/authoritarianregimedataset/data.

wahman_teorell

Format

An object of class data.frame with 6693 rows and 22 columns.

Variable descriptions

country_name

Standardized country name. This is the same across all datasets in this package, so you can always join them by country_name and year. Character with 193 distinct values. Most common: Afghanistan (39), Albania (39), Algeria (39), Argentina (39), Australia (39), Austria (39), Bahrain (39), Bangladesh (39), Barbados (39), Belgium (39), Benin (39), Bhutan (39), Bolivia (39), Botswana (39), Brazil (39), Bulgaria (39), Burkina Faso (Upper Volta) (39), Burundi (39), Cambodia (Kampuchea) (39), Cameroon (39), Canada (39), Central African Republic (39), Chad (39), Chile (39), China (39), Colombia (39), Congo (39), Congo, Democratic Republic of (Zaire) (39), Costa Rica (39), Cote D'Ivoire (39), Cuba (39), Cyprus (39), Denmark (39), Dominican Republic (39), Ecuador (39), Egypt (39), El Salvador (39), Equatorial Guinea (39), Ethiopia (39), Fiji (39), Finland (39), France (39), Gabon (39), Gambia (39), German Federal Republic (39), Ghana (39), Greece (39), Guatemala (39), Guinea (39), Guyana (39), Haiti (39), Honduras (39), Hungary (39), Iceland (39), India (39), Indonesia (39), Iran (Persia) (39), Iraq (39), Ireland (39), Israel (39), Italy/Sardinia (39), Jamaica (39), Japan (39), Jordan (39), Kenya (39), Korea, People's Republic of (39), Korea, Republic of (39), Kuwait (39), Laos (39), Lebanon (39), Lesotho (39), Liberia (39), Libya (39), Luxembourg (39), Madagascar (Malagasy) (39), Malawi (39), Malaysia (39), Maldives (39), Mali (39), Malta (39), Mauritania (39), Mauritius (39), Mexico (39), Mongolia (39), Morocco (39), Myanmar (Burma) (39), Nepal (39), Netherlands (39), New Zealand (39), Nicaragua (39), Niger (39), Nigeria (39), Norway (39), Oman (39), Pakistan (39), Panama (39), Paraguay (39), Peru (39), Philippines (39), Poland (39), Portugal (39), Qatar (39), Rumania (39), Russia (Soviet Union) (39), Rwanda (39), Samoa/Western Samoa (39), Saudi Arabia (39), Senegal (39), Sierra Leone (39), Singapore (39), Somalia (39), South Africa (39), Spain (39), Sri Lanka (Ceylon) (39), Sudan (39), Swaziland (39), Sweden (39), Switzerland (39), Syria (39), Taiwan (39), Tanzania/Tanganyika (39), Thailand (39), Togo (39), Tonga (39), Trinidad and Tobago (39), Tunisia (39), Turkey (Ottoman Empire) (39), Uganda (39), United Arab Emirates (39), United Kingdom (39), United States of America (39), Uruguay (39), Venezuela (39), Vietnam, Democratic Republic of (39), Yemen (Arab Republic of Yemen) (39), Zambia (39), Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) (39). NAs = 0.

GWn

Gleditsch-Ward numeric country code. See Gleditsch and Ward (1999). Numeric. Max = 990, min = 2, distinct = 193, mean = 464.56, sd = 260.545, NAs = 0.

year

Year. Numeric. Max = 2010, min = 1972, distinct = 39, mean = 1991.926, sd = 11.129, NAs = 0.

regime1ny

Collapsed regime type: 1 Monarchy 2 Military 3 One party 4 Multi-party 9 No-party 99 Other 100 Democracy.

The codebook notes:

Using the mean of the Freedom House and Polity scales (ifhpol), we draw the line between democracies and autocracies at 7.0. We chose his threshold value by estimating the mean cutoff point separating democracy from autocracy in five well-known categorical measures of democracy: Cheibub et al. (2010), Boix et al (Forthcoming) and Bernhard et al. (2001), together with Polity's own categorical threshold for "democracy" and Freedom House's threshold for "Electoral Democracy." At the core of our typology of authoritarian regime types is a distinction between three different modes of political power maintenance (probably the three most widely used throughout history):

1. Hereditary succession, or lineage, corresponding to Monarchies; we define monarchies as those regimes in which a person of royal descent has inherited the position of head of state in accordance with accepted practice and/or the constitution (one cannot proclaim oneself a monarch). It bears stressing that we only apply this classification to countries where the sovereign exercises real political power; ceremonial monarchies are thus excluded. This occurs in Afghanistan 1979 and 2001, Bosnia-Herzegovina 1995, Cambodia 1979, Lebanon 1990, and Solomon Islands 2003. Users particularly interested in the time-series information on democracy for these countries should consider more case-specific imputation techniques.

2. The actual or threatened use of military force, referring to Military regimes, where the armed forces may exercise political power either directly or indirectly (i.e., by controlling civilian leaders behind the scenes). Regimes where persons of military background are chosen in open elections (which have not been controlled by the military) thus should not count as military. "Rebel regimes" form a special subcategory. They include cases where a rebel movement (one not formed out of the regular armed forces) has taken power by military means, and the regime has not as yet been reconstituted as another kind of regime.

3. Popular elections, designating the various electoral regimes. We distinguish among three basic types of electoral regimes. The first is the No-Party Regime, where elections are held but all political parties (or at least any candidate representing a party) are prohibited. Elections in no-party regimes may display an element of competition, but thus only among individual candidates.

Second, in One-Party Regimes, all parties but one is forbidden (formally or de facto) from taking part in elections. A small number of non-party candidates may also be allowed to take part and get elected; there may be satellite parties which are autonomous in name, but which cannot take an independent position; and competition between candidates from the same (ruling) party may also obtain; we still code the regime one-party. It is not enough, moreover, that a regime calls itself a one-party state; elections in such a structure must also be held.

Third, and finally, we define Limited Multiparty regimes as regimes that hold parliamentary or presidential elections in which (at least some) candidates are able to participate who are independent of the ruling regime. This classification holds even when opposition parties refrain voluntarily from taking part in elections. It also embraces cases where parties are absent, but where this is not the result of any prohibition against party activities: the candidates in question have simply chosen to stand for election as individuals. These latter we classify as Party-Less limited multiparty systems.

Finally, we have a residual category called others, including a few cases that do not fit under any other regime type, given the definitions applied.

The categories in regime1ny are not mutually exclusive. All monarchical regimes with amalgams [regimeny=16, 17, 23 or 24] are treated as monarchies, all military regimes with sub-types and amalgams [regimeny=4, 5, 6, 7 or 18] are treated as military regimes, and multiparty regimes with sub-types are treated as multiparty regimes [regimeny =1 or 2]. Only pure no-party [regimeny=3] and one-party [regimeny=8] regimes are treated as no-party and one-party regimes, respectively. The minor types [regimeny=9, 19, 20, 21, 22] are treated as other. Our regime classification pertains to December 31 as of each year. Factor with 13 levels. Most common: Monarchy (482), Military (956), One-party (821), Multi-party (1307), No-party (36), Other (253), Democracy (2838). NAs = 0.

regimeny

Regime type: 1 Limited Multiparty 2 Partyless 3 No-Party 4 Military 5 Military No-Party 6 Military Multiparty 7 Military One-party 8 One-Party 9 Other 16 One-Party Monarchy 17 Monarchy 18 Rebel Regime 19 Civil War 20 Occupation 21 Theocracy 22 Transitional Regime 23 No-Party Monarchy 24 Multiparty Monarchy 100 Democracy

The codebook notes: Based on the classifications in regime1ny we also code hybrids (or amalgams) combining elements from more than one regime type. Monarchies may carry out elections in various forms: multiparty elections, no-party elections, and also one-party elections. The same goes for military regimes. In addition to the main types and their amalgams, we have identified several minor types of authoritarian regime. In a theocracy, decisive political power lies in the hands of a religious elite. Temporary regimes, the purpose of which is to carry out a transition, are classified as transitional regimes. There are furthermore countries in which the official government does not in reality control the territory. This may be due to civil war or occupation by foreign troops. Factor with 20 levels. Most common: limited multiparty (1306), military trad (423), military multiparty (202), military one-party (208), one-party (821), monarchy (238), democracy (2838). NAs = 0.

persagg1ny

Mean executive turnover (collapsed regime type) Measures the total number of changes of the chief executive during the regime spell divided by the years of regime spell duration, according to the classification of regime1ny. The effective executive may be the president, prime minister, leader of the ruling party, the monarch or the ruling military junta, or someone else, working behind political figure heads. Numeric. Max = 3, min = 0, distinct = 102, mean = 0.17, sd = 0.193, NAs = 0.

persaggny2

Mean executive turnover (within regime spells) Same as persagg1ny, but according to the classification of regimeny. Numeric. Max = 3, min = 0, distinct = 100, mean = 0.17, sd = 0.199, NAs = 0.

tenure1ny

Mean years of executive tenure (collapsed regime type) Measures the years of regime spell duration divided by the total number of changes of the executive during the regime spell, according to the classification of regime1ny. In case no change of executive occurred during a regime spell, tenure1ny is set equal to the regime spell duration. Source: See persaggny2. Numeric. Max = 39, min = 0.333, distinct = 108, mean = 10.865, sd = 9.675, NAs = 0.

tenureny2

Mean years of executive tenure (within regime spells) Same as tenure1ny, but according to the classification of regimeny. Source: See persagg1ny. Numeric. Max = 39, min = 0.333, distinct = 107, mean = 9.984, sd = 8.619, NAs = 0.

wahman_teorell_country

Original country name in dataset. Character with 195 distinct values. Most common: Afghanistan (39), Albania (39), Algeria (39), Argentina (39), Australia (39), Austria (39), Bahrain (39), Bangladesh (39), Barbados (39), Belgium (39), Benin (39), Bhutan (39), Bolivia (39), Botswana (39), Brazil (39), Bulgaria (39), Burkina Faso (39), Burundi (39), Cambodia (39), Cameroon (39), Canada (39), Central African Republic (39), Chad (39), Chile (39), China (39), Colombia (39), Congo, Dem. Rep. (Zaire, Kinshasa) (39), Congo, Rep.(Brazzaville) (39), Costa Rica (39), Cote d'Ivoire (39), Cuba (39), Cyprus (39), Denmark (39), Dominican Republic (39), Ecuador (39), Egypt, Arab Rep. (39), El Salvador (39), Equatorial Guinea (39), Ethiopia (39), Fiji (39), Finland (39), France (39), Gabon (39), Gambia, The (39), Germany (39), Ghana (39), Greece (39), Guatemala (39), Guinea (39), Guyana (39), Haiti (39), Honduras (39), Hungary (39), Iceland (39), India (39), Indonesia (39), Iran, Islamic Rep. (39), Iraq (39), Ireland (39), Israel (39), Italy (39), Jamaica (39), Japan (39), Jordan (39), Kenya (39), Korea, Dem. Rep. (N) (39), Korea, Rep. (S) (39), Kuwait (39), Lao, PDR (39), Lebanon (39), Lesotho (39), Liberia (39), Libya (39), Luxembourg (39), Madagascar (39), Malawi (39), Malaysia (39), Maldives (39), Mali (39), Malta (39), Mauritania (39), Mauritius (39), Mexico (39), Mongolia (39), Morocco (39), Myanmar (39), Nepal (39), Netherlands (39), New Zealand (39), Nicaragua (39), Niger (39), Nigeria (39), Norway (39), Oman (39), Pakistan (39), Panama (39), Paraguay (39), Peru (39), Philippines (39), Poland (39), Portugal (39), Qatar (39), Romania (39), Rwanda (39), Samoa (39), Saudi Arabia (39), Senegal (39), Sierra Leone (39), Singapore (39), Somalia (39), South Africa (39), Spain (39), Sri Lanka (39), Sudan (39), Swaziland (39), Sweden (39), Switzerland (39), Syrian Arab Republic (39), Taiwan, China (39), Tanzania (39), Thailand (39), Togo (39), Tonga (39), Trinidad and Tobago (39), Tunisia (39), Turkey (39), Uganda (39), United Arab Emirates (39), United Kingdom (39), United States (39), Uruguay (39), Venezuela, RB (39), Vietnam (39), Zambia (39), Zimbabwe (39). NAs = 0.

GWc

Gleditsch-Ward alphabetic country code. See Gleditsch and Ward (1999). Character with 193 distinct values. Most common: AFG (39), ALB (39), ALG (39), ARG (39), AUL (39), AUS (39), BAH (39), BAR (39), BEL (39), BEN (39), BFO (39), BHU (39), BNG (39), BOL (39), BOT (39), BRA (39), BUI (39), BUL (39), CAM (39), CAN (39), CAO (39), CDI (39), CEN (39), CHA (39), CHL (39), CHN (39), COL (39), CON (39), COS (39), CUB (39), CYP (39), DEN (39), DOM (39), DRC (39), DRV (39), ECU (39), EGY (39), EQG (39), ETH (39), FIN (39), FJI (39), FRN (39), GAB (39), GAM (39), GFR (39), GHA (39), GRC (39), GUA (39), GUI (39), GUY (39), HAI (39), HON (39), HUN (39), ICE (39), IND (39), INS (39), IRE (39), IRN (39), IRQ (39), ISR (39), ITA (39), JAM (39), JOR (39), JPN (39), KEN (39), KUW (39), LAO (39), LBR (39), LEB (39), LES (39), LIB (39), LUX (39), MAA (39), MAD (39), MAG (39), MAL (39), MAS (39), MAW (39), MEX (39), MLI (39), MLT (39), MON (39), MOR (39), MYA (39), NEP (39), NEW (39), NIC (39), NIG (39), NIR (39), NOR (39), NTH (39), OMA (39), PAK (39), PAN (39), PAR (39), PER (39), PHI (39), POL (39), POR (39), PRK (39), QAT (39), ROK (39), RUM (39), RUS (39), RWA (39), SAF (39), SAL (39), SAU (39), SEN (39), SIE (39), SIN (39), SOM (39), SPN (39), SRI (39), SUD (39), SWA (39), SWD (39), SWZ (39), SYR (39), TAW (39), TAZ (39), THI (39), TOG (39), TON (39), TRI (39), TUN (39), TUR (39), UAE (39), UGA (39), UKG (39), URU (39), USA (39), VEN (39), WSM (39), YEM (39), ZAM (39), ZIM (39). NAs = 0.

cown

Correlates of War numeric country code. Differs from GWn for a few country-years. See Gleditsch and Ward (1999). Numeric. Max = 990, min = 2, distinct = 193, mean = 464.35, sd = 260.131, NAs = 0.

polity_ccode

Country code in Polity datasets. Differs from GWn for a few country-years. See Gleditsch and Ward (1999). Numeric. Max = 990, min = 2, distinct = 198, mean = 464.36, sd = 260.143, NAs = 0.

region

Region. Character with 22 distinct values. Most common: Eastern Africa (627), Western Africa (619), Western Asia (624). NAs = 0.

continent

Continent. Character with 5 distinct values. Most common: Africa (2002), Americas (1312), Asia (1700). NAs = 0.

GW_startdate

Date at which the state entered the system of states according to Gleditsch and Ward, or NA if it has never been a member. Date. Max = 2008-02-17, min = 1816-01-01, distinct = 159, NAs = 0.

GW_enddate

Date at which the state ceased to be a member of the system of states according to Gleditsch and Ward, or NA if it still exists. Date. Max = 2006-06-04, min = 1975-04-30, distinct = 6, NAs = 6598.

microstate

Indicator of whether the state is a microstate, according to Gleditsch's list of microstates. Logical. TRUE = 464, FALSE = 6229, NAs = 0.

lat

Latitude. Numeric. Max = 64.963, min = -40.901, distinct = 193, mean = 17.697, sd = 23.758, NAs = 0.

lon

Longitude. Numeric. Max = 178.065, min = -175.198, distinct = 193, mean = 16.618, sd = 66.616, NAs = 0.

in_cow

Whether the country-year is in the Correlates of War system of states. Logical. TRUE = 5919, FALSE = 774, NAs = 0.

in_system

Whether the country-year is in the Gleditsch-Ward system of states. See Gleditsch and Ward (1999). Logical. TRUE = 6688, FALSE = 5, NAs = 0.

References

Hadenius, Axel & Jan Teorell. 2007. "Pathways from Authoritarianism", Journal of Democracy 18(1): 143-156

Wahman, Michael, Jan Teorell, and Axel Hadenius. 2013. Authoritarian regime types revisited: updated data in comparative perspective. Contemporary Politics 19 (1): 19-34

See also

Other democracy: all_gwf_extended_yearly, democracy, extended_uds, kailitz_yearly, lied, magaloni, polity_annual, vdem

Other regime characteristics: PIPE, all_gwf_extended_yearly, all_gwf_periods, all_gwf, kailitz_yearly, lied, magaloni_extended, magaloni, polity_annual, svolik_institutions

Other regime types: all_gwf_extended_yearly, all_gwf_periods, all_gwf, kailitz_yearly, magaloni_extended, magaloni