This package archives a large number of datasets measuring democracy in use in the scholarly literature, and it provides functions to access many others. You can use it to access some widely used datasets, including Polity5, Freedom House, Geddes, Wright, and Frantz’ autocratic regimes dataset, the Lexical Index of Electoral Democracy, the DD/ACLP/PACL/CGV dataset, the main indexes of the V-Dem dataset, and many others.
Basic usage
For the vast majority of use cases, you can just type the name of the dataset you require. For example, here’s the DD/ACLP/PACL/CGV dataset:
library(democracyData)
pacl
#> # A tibble: 9,159 × 82
#> order pacl_country year aclpcode pacl_cowcode cowcode2 ccdcodelet ccdcodenum
#> <dbl> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <chr> <dbl>
#> 1 1 Afghanistan 1946 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 2 2 Afghanistan 1947 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 3 3 Afghanistan 1948 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 4 4 Afghanistan 1949 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 5 5 Afghanistan 1950 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 6 6 Afghanistan 1951 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 7 7 Afghanistan 1952 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 8 8 Afghanistan 1953 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 9 9 Afghanistan 1954 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 10 10 Afghanistan 1955 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> # ℹ 9,149 more rows
#> # ℹ 74 more variables: aclpyear <dbl>, cowcode2year <dbl>, cowcodeyear <dbl>,
#> # chgterr <dbl>, ychgterr <dbl>, flagc_cowcode2 <dbl>, flage_cowcode2 <dbl>,
#> # entryy <dbl>, exity <dbl>, cid <dbl>, wdicode <chr>, imf_code <dbl>,
#> # politycode <dbl>, bankscode <dbl>, dpicode <chr>, uncode <dbl>,
#> # un_region <dbl>, un_region_name <chr>, un_continent <dbl>,
#> # un_continent_name <chr>, aclp_region <dbl>, bornyear <dbl>, …
# You can also use an alias:
dd()
#> # A tibble: 9,159 × 82
#> order pacl_country year aclpcode pacl_cowcode cowcode2 ccdcodelet ccdcodenum
#> <dbl> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <chr> <dbl>
#> 1 1 Afghanistan 1946 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 2 2 Afghanistan 1947 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 3 3 Afghanistan 1948 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 4 4 Afghanistan 1949 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 5 5 Afghanistan 1950 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 6 6 Afghanistan 1951 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 7 7 Afghanistan 1952 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 8 8 Afghanistan 1953 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 9 9 Afghanistan 1954 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 10 10 Afghanistan 1955 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> # ℹ 9,149 more rows
#> # ℹ 74 more variables: aclpyear <dbl>, cowcode2year <dbl>, cowcodeyear <dbl>,
#> # chgterr <dbl>, ychgterr <dbl>, flagc_cowcode2 <dbl>, flage_cowcode2 <dbl>,
#> # entryy <dbl>, exity <dbl>, cid <dbl>, wdicode <chr>, imf_code <dbl>,
#> # politycode <dbl>, bankscode <dbl>, dpicode <chr>, uncode <dbl>,
#> # un_region <dbl>, un_region_name <chr>, un_continent <dbl>,
#> # un_continent_name <chr>, aclp_region <dbl>, bornyear <dbl>, …Here’s Polity IV:
polityIV
#> # A tibble: 17,562 × 40
#> cyear polityIV_ccode scode polityIV_country year flag fragment democ autoc
#> <dbl> <dbl> <chr> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl>
#> 1 21800 2 USA United States 1800 0 NA 7 3
#> 2 21801 2 USA United States 1801 0 NA 7 3
#> 3 21802 2 USA United States 1802 0 NA 7 3
#> 4 21803 2 USA United States 1803 0 NA 7 3
#> 5 21804 2 USA United States 1804 0 NA 7 3
#> 6 21805 2 USA United States 1805 0 NA 7 3
#> 7 21806 2 USA United States 1806 0 NA 7 3
#> 8 21807 2 USA United States 1807 0 NA 7 3
#> 9 21808 2 USA United States 1808 0 NA 7 3
#> 10 21809 2 USA United States 1809 0 NA 9 0
#> # ℹ 17,552 more rows
#> # ℹ 31 more variables: polity <dbl>, polity2 <dbl>, durable <dbl>, xrreg <dbl>,
#> # xrcomp <dbl>, xropen <dbl>, xconst <dbl>, parreg <dbl>, parcomp <dbl>,
#> # exrec <dbl>, exconst <dbl>, polcomp <dbl>, prior <dbl>, emonth <dbl>,
#> # eday <dbl>, eyear <dbl>, eprec <dbl>, interim <dbl>, bmonth <dbl>,
#> # bday <dbl>, byear <dbl>, bprec <dbl>, post <dbl>, change <dbl>, d4 <dbl>,
#> # sf <dbl>, regtrans <dbl>, extended_country_name <chr>, GWn <dbl>, …And here’s a basic version of the V-Dem dataset, including only the 7 main indexes of democracy:
vdem_simple
#> # A tibble: 27,913 × 54
#> vdem_country_name country_text_id country_id year historical_date project
#> <chr> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <date> <dbl>
#> 1 Mexico MEX 3 1789 1789-12-31 1
#> 2 Mexico MEX 3 1790 1790-12-31 1
#> 3 Mexico MEX 3 1791 1791-12-31 1
#> 4 Mexico MEX 3 1792 1792-12-31 1
#> 5 Mexico MEX 3 1793 1793-12-31 1
#> 6 Mexico MEX 3 1794 1794-12-31 1
#> 7 Mexico MEX 3 1795 1795-12-31 1
#> 8 Mexico MEX 3 1796 1796-12-31 1
#> 9 Mexico MEX 3 1797 1797-12-31 1
#> 10 Mexico MEX 3 1798 1798-12-31 1
#> # ℹ 27,903 more rows
#> # ℹ 48 more variables: historical <dbl>, histname <chr>, codingstart <dbl>,
#> # codingend <dbl>, codingstart_contemp <dbl>, codingend_contemp <dbl>,
#> # codingstart_hist <dbl>, codingend_hist <dbl>, gapstart1 <dbl>,
#> # gapstart2 <dbl>, gapstart3 <dbl>, gapend1 <dbl>, gapend2 <dbl>,
#> # gapend3 <dbl>, gap_index <dbl>, vdem_cowcode <dbl>, v2x_polyarchy <dbl>,
#> # v2x_polyarchy_codelow <dbl>, v2x_polyarchy_codehigh <dbl>, …All datasets in this package are fully documented; type ?pacl for example to see the documentation for the PACL dataset.
Downloading democracy data
Though all datasets can be accessed directly from this package, most datasets can also be downloaded directly from the internet, including the family of datasets released by Freedom House and the full V-Dem dataset. To download the Freedom House dataset, use the the download_* family of functions; to download the full V-Dem dataset, use the vdemdata package. The package does include the main indexes of version 15.0 of V-Dem (see vdem_simple), so you don’t need to use the vdemdata package if you are only interested in the higher-level indexes of democracy. You can also download directly the latest versions of the World Bank’s Voice and Accountability Index from the World Governance Indicators and Polity5, though there are also archived versions of these two in the package.
For example, we can download and process the Freedom House “Freedom in the World” dataset as follows:
fh_downloaded <- download_fh(verbose = FALSE)
fh_downloaded
#> # A tibble: 9,435 × 11
#> fh_country year pr cl status fh_total fh_total_reversed
#> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <fct> <dbl> <dbl>
#> 1 Afghanistan 1972 4 5 PF 9 5
#> 2 Afghanistan 1973 7 6 NF 13 1
#> 3 Afghanistan 1974 7 6 NF 13 1
#> 4 Afghanistan 1975 7 6 NF 13 1
#> 5 Afghanistan 1976 7 6 NF 13 1
#> 6 Afghanistan 1977 6 6 NF 12 2
#> 7 Afghanistan 1978 7 7 NF 14 0
#> 8 Afghanistan 1979 7 7 NF 14 0
#> 9 Afghanistan 1980 7 7 NF 14 0
#> 10 Afghanistan 1982 7 7 NF 14 0
#> # ℹ 9,425 more rows
#> # ℹ 4 more variables: extended_country_name <chr>, GWn <dbl>, cown <dbl>,
#> # in_GW_system <lgl>This downloads the latest update of the “Freedom in the World” dataset (1972-2024, corresponding to the 2025 report), puts it in country-year format (extracting the relevant info from the awful Excel table that Freedom House makes available), calculates the variables fh_total and fh_total_reversed, and adds state system information, including a standardized country name, the Gleditsch-Ward country code and the Correlates of War country code. You can also, however, use the archived version (fh):
identical(fh_downloaded, fh)
#> [1] FALSE
fh
#> # A tibble: 9,965 × 11
#> fh_country year pr cl status fh_total fh_total_reversed
#> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <fct> <dbl> <dbl>
#> 1 Afghanistan 1972 4 5 PF 9 5
#> 2 Afghanistan 1973 7 6 NF 13 1
#> 3 Afghanistan 1974 7 6 NF 13 1
#> 4 Afghanistan 1975 7 6 NF 13 1
#> 5 Afghanistan 1976 7 6 NF 13 1
#> 6 Afghanistan 1977 6 6 NF 12 2
#> 7 Afghanistan 1978 7 7 NF 14 0
#> 8 Afghanistan 1979 7 7 NF 14 0
#> 9 Afghanistan 1980 7 7 NF 14 0
#> 10 Afghanistan 1982 7 7 NF 14 0
#> # ℹ 9,955 more rows
#> # ℹ 4 more variables: extended_country_name <chr>, GWn <dbl>, cown <dbl>,
#> # in_GW_system <lgl>Other democracy datasets can often also be “re-downloaded” from the websites of their creators or maintainers if required. For example, one can either access PACL directly by typing
pacl
#> # A tibble: 9,159 × 82
#> order pacl_country year aclpcode pacl_cowcode cowcode2 ccdcodelet ccdcodenum
#> <dbl> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <chr> <dbl>
#> 1 1 Afghanistan 1946 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 2 2 Afghanistan 1947 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 3 3 Afghanistan 1948 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 4 4 Afghanistan 1949 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 5 5 Afghanistan 1950 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 6 6 Afghanistan 1951 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 7 7 Afghanistan 1952 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 8 8 Afghanistan 1953 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 9 9 Afghanistan 1954 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 10 10 Afghanistan 1955 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> # ℹ 9,149 more rows
#> # ℹ 74 more variables: aclpyear <dbl>, cowcode2year <dbl>, cowcodeyear <dbl>,
#> # chgterr <dbl>, ychgterr <dbl>, flagc_cowcode2 <dbl>, flage_cowcode2 <dbl>,
#> # entryy <dbl>, exity <dbl>, cid <dbl>, wdicode <chr>, imf_code <dbl>,
#> # politycode <dbl>, bankscode <dbl>, dpicode <chr>, uncode <dbl>,
#> # un_region <dbl>, un_region_name <chr>, un_continent <dbl>,
#> # un_continent_name <chr>, aclp_region <dbl>, bornyear <dbl>, …Or re-download the dataset from Jose Antonio Cheibub’s website as follows:
pacl_redownloaded <- redownload_pacl(verbose = FALSE)
pacl_redownloaded
#> # A tibble: 9,159 × 82
#> order pacl_country year aclpcode pacl_cowcode cowcode2 ccdcodelet ccdcodenum
#> <dbl> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <chr> <dbl>
#> 1 1 Afghanistan 1946 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 2 2 Afghanistan 1947 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 3 3 Afghanistan 1948 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 4 4 Afghanistan 1949 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 5 5 Afghanistan 1950 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 6 6 Afghanistan 1951 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 7 7 Afghanistan 1952 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 8 8 Afghanistan 1953 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 9 9 Afghanistan 1954 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> 10 10 Afghanistan 1955 142 700 700 AFG 1
#> # ℹ 9,149 more rows
#> # ℹ 74 more variables: aclpyear <dbl>, cowcode2year <dbl>, cowcodeyear <dbl>,
#> # chgterr <dbl>, ychgterr <dbl>, flagc_cowcode2 <dbl>, flage_cowcode2 <dbl>,
#> # entryy <dbl>, exity <dbl>, cid <dbl>, wdicode <chr>, imf_code <dbl>,
#> # politycode <dbl>, bankscode <dbl>, dpicode <chr>, uncode <dbl>,
#> # un_region <dbl>, un_region_name <chr>, un_continent <dbl>,
#> # un_continent_name <chr>, aclp_region <dbl>, bornyear <dbl>, …These two data frames should be identical:
identical(pacl, pacl_redownloaded)
#> [1] TRUEYou should thus normally use the “archived” versions of these datasets, unless you want to manipulate the raw data yourself (using the redownload_* functions with the option return_raw = TRUE), or think they might have been updated since you installed this package.
Included democracy datasets
For a list of all the democracy datasets available through this package, type democracy_info:
library(dplyr)
#>
#> Attaching package: 'dplyr'
#> The following objects are masked from 'package:stats':
#>
#> filter, lag
#> The following objects are masked from 'package:base':
#>
#> intersect, setdiff, setequal, union
democracy_info |>
knitr::kable()| dataset | long_name | main_democracy_measure_col | measure_type | based_on | in_pmm_replication | categorical_regime_types | user_extendable | downloadable | included_in_package | first_published_use | source_link | licensing_info | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| anckar | The Anckar-Fredriksson dataset of political regimes | democracy | dichotomous | bmr | FALSE | TRUE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 2018 | https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/7SSSAH&version=2.0 | CC0 1.0 | The democracy measure should be equivalent to democracy_omitteddata from bmr up to 2010; it may have some divergences for the 2011-2016 period. |
| anrr | The Acemoglu, Naidu, Restrepo, and Robinson dataset | dem | dichotomous | FH,Polity | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | FALSE | TRUE | 2019 | https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/700936 | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | The measure can be extended by using the latest FH, Polity, and PACL Data, but the rules are not entirely transparent, and some cases in the original dataset have been hand-coded. |
| arat_pmm | The Arat measure of democracy | pmm_arat | continuous | NA | TRUE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 1991 | NA | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | Only available via the Pemstein, Meserve, and Melton (2013) replication data. I have not been able to access the original data. |
| blm | The Bowman, Lehoucq, and Mahoney index of democracy for Central America | blm | trichotomous | NA | TRUE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 2005 | NA | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | This used to be downloadable; the website hosting it is down, however. |
| bmr | The Boix-Miller-Rosato dichotomous coding of democracy, 1800-2015, version 4.0 | democracy,democracy_omitteddata,democracy_femalesuffrage | dichotomous | PACL | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 2010 | https://sites.google.com/site/mkmtwo/data | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | NA |
| bnr | The Bernhard, Nordstrom & Reenock Event History Coding of Democratic Breakdowns | event,bnr | dichotomous | NA | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | FALSE | TRUE | 2001 | NA | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | Can be extended using a full panel of sovereign countries (COW). Extended version included in this package. This used to be downloadable; the website hosting it is down, however. |
| bti | The Berteslmann Index of Political transformation | SI_Democracy_Status | continuous | NA | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 2006 | https://bti-project.org/fileadmin/api/content/en/downloads/data/BTI_2006-2022_Scores.xlsx | Unknown. | NA |
| bollen_pmm | The Bollen measure of democracy | pmm_bollen | continuous | NA | TRUE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 1978 | NA | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | The original data was compiled in 1978, for Bollen’s dissertation; existing data seems to be from the 2000 update. I do not know how much it changed over time. Only available via the Pemstein, Meserve, and Melton (2013) replication data. I have not been able to access the original data. |
| doorenspleet | Renske Doorenspleet’s Democracy Dataset | doorenspleet,regime | dichotomous | Polity | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 2000 | https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/world-politics/article/abs/reassessing-the-three-waves-of-democratization/25A6CB38E6746F98D882DFC43A54D211 | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | NA |
| eiu | The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index | eiu | continuous | NA | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 2006 | NA | Unknown. | The original data has to be manually extracted from the tables in the EIU’s pdf report on the index. |
| fh | Freedom House “Freedom in the World” data | status,fh_total,fh_total_reversed | ordinal | FH | TRUE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | FALSE | 1973 | https://freedomhouse.org/reports/publication-archives | Unknown. | NA |
| fh_full | Freedom House “Freedom in the World” data | total | continuous | FH | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | FALSE | 2013 | NA | Unknown. | This is the 0-100 score Freedom House uses for its more aggregated ratings. Freedom House changed its methodology in 2013, so the full data is different for this period; full data from 2003-2012 is available in their website, but is not yet included in this package. |
| fh_electoral | Freedom House “Electoral Democracies” List | electoral | dichotomous | FH | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | FALSE | 1990 | NA | Unknown. | The electoral democracy list seems to have only been compiled since the 1990s, but I have not been able to find an exact date of first compilation. |
| gwf | The Geddes Wright and Frantz Autocratic Regimes dataset | gwf_regimetype,gwf_nonautocracy | dichotomous | PACL | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | TRUE | TRUE | 2014 | http://sites.psu.edu/dictators/ | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | Can be extended using the gwf_duration variable. Extended version included in this package. |
| hadenius_pmm | Axel Hadenius’ Index of Democracy | pmm_hadenius | continuous | NA | TRUE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 1992 | NA | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | Only available via the Pemstein, Meserve, and Melton (2013) replication data. I have not been able to access the original data. |
| kailitz | The Steffen Kailitz Dataset of Authoritarian Regime Types | combined_regime,kailitz_binary,kailitz_tri | dichotomous | NA | FALSE | TRUE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 2013 | https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0192512115616830 | Unknown. | NA |
| LIED | The Lexical Index of Electoral Democracy, v. 3 | lexical_index | ordinal | PIPE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 2015 | https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/WPKNIT | CC0 1.0 | NA |
| magaloni | Autocracies of the World, 1950-2012 (Version 1.0). | demo_nr,demo_r,regime_r,regime_nr | dichotomous | PACL | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | TRUE | TRUE | 2013 | http://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/research/autocracies_of_the_world_dataset/ | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | Can be extended using the duration_nr variable. Extended version included in this package. |
| mainwaring | Mainwaring, Brinks, and Perez Linan’s democracy measure for Latin America | mainwaring,Regime | trichotomous | NA | TRUE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 2001 | NA | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | NA |
| munck_pmm | Munck Index of Democracy | pmm_munck | continuous | NA | TRUE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 2009 | NA | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | Only available via the Pemstein, Meserve, and Melton (2013) replication data. I have not been able to access the original data. |
| pacl, pacl_update | The Democracy and Dictatorship Dataset (DD/PACL/ACLP/CGV) | democracy,regime,Democracy,DD_regime,DD_category | dichotomous | PACL | TRUE | TRUE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 1996 | http://www.christianbjoernskov.com/bjoernskovrodedata/, https://uofi.box.com/shared/static/bba3968d7c3397c024ec.dta | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | The original data was first compiled, as far as I know, for the famous ACLP study “Modernization: Theories and Facts” study of 1996. It was extended and changed by Cheibub, Gandhi, and Vreeland in 2010 (pacl dataset) and further updated by Bjornskov and Rode (2020; pacl_update dataset), who added new institutional variables. |
| peps | Participation-Enhanced Polity Score | PEPS1i,PEPS2i,PEPS1q,PEPS2q,PEPS1v,PEPS2v,polity1raw,Polity1,Polity2,Polity3 | continuous | Polity | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 2006 | http://www.lehigh.edu/~bm05/democracy/PEPS1pub.dta | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | NA |
| PIPE | The Political Institutions and Political Events (PIPE) dataset | democracy,democracy2,regime | dichotomous | PIPE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 2010 | https://sites.google.com/a/nyu.edu/adam-przeworski/home/data | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | Democracy measures in PIPE are calculated in this package on the basis of imperfect instructions in the codebook. Use with care. This used to be downloadable; the link no longer works, however. |
| pitf | Political Instability Task Force democracy indicator | pitf_binary | dichotomous | Polity | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 2010 | http://www.systemicpeace.org/inscr/ | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | Constructed score on the basis of Polity data. |
| pitf | Political Instability Task Force democracy indicator | pitf | ordinal | Polity | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 2010 | http://www.systemicpeace.org/inscr/ | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | Constructed score on the basis of Polity data. |
| polityIV | The Polity IV dataset | polity,polity2 | ordinal | Polity | TRUE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 1975 | http://www.systemicpeace.org/inscr/ | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | The first compilation of this dataset (POLITY I) was probably first used in a 1975 study by Eckstein and Gurr, but had been collected by Gurr since the late 1960s. The current form of the data is very different from the original Polity I data. The Polity II codebook survives, but I find no record of the Polity I codebook. |
| polity_annual | The Polity5 dataset | polity,polity2 | ordinal | Polity | TRUE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | FALSE | 1975 | http://www.systemicpeace.org/inscr/ | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | The first compilation of this dataset (POLITY I) was probably first used in a 1975 study by Eckstein and Gurr, but had been collected by Gurr since the late 1960s. The current form of the data is very different from the original Polity I data. The Polity II codebook survives, but I find no record of the Polity I codebook. |
| polyarchy | The Polyarchy Scale and the Contestation Scale | cont,poly | ordinal | NA | TRUE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 1990 | https://www3.nd.edu/~mcoppedg/crd/poly8500.sav | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | NA |
| polyarchy_dimensions | Latent Dimensions of Contestation and Inclusiveness by Michael Coppedge, Angel Alvarez, and Claudia Maldonado | CONTEST,INCLUS | continuous | latent variable | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 2008 | http://www3.nd.edu/~mcoppedg/crd/DahlDims.sav | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | NA |
| prc_gasiorowski | The Political Regime Change (PRC) dataset. | regime,prc,prc_at_end_year,prc_at_beginning_year | trichotomous | NA | TRUE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 1996 | NA | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | NA |
| reign | The Rulers, Elections, and Irregular Governance (REIGN) dataset, regime characteristics worksheet. | gwf_regimetype | dichotomous | GWF | FALSE | TRUE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 2016 | https://github.com/OEFDataScience/REIGN.github.io | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | Archived here now, since collection has stopped. |
| svmdi | Suport Vector Machine Democracy Index by Grundler and Krieger | svmdi, csvmdi | continuous | latent variable | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 2016 | https://ml-democracy-index.net/ | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | NA |
| svmdi | Suport Vector Machine Democracy Index by Grundler and Krieger | dsvmdi | dichotomous | latent variable | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 2016 | https://ml-democracy-index.net/ | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | NA |
| svolik_regime | Milan Svolik’s Regime Dataset | regime,regime_numeric | dichotomous | PACL | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 2012 | https://campuspress.yale.edu/svolik/the-politics-of-authoritarian-rule/ | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | NA |
| uds | The Unified Democracy Scores | mean,median | continuous | latent variable | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | FALSE | TRUE | 2010 | NA | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | Can be extended using the methods described in this package’s “Replicating and Extending the UD scores of Pemstein, Meserve, and Melton” article (https://xmarquez.github.io/democracyData/articles/articles/Replicating_and_extending_the_UD_scores.html) |
| ulfelder | The Democracy/Autocracy Dataset by Jay Ulfelder | rgjtype | dichotomous | Polity | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | TRUE | 2007 | https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=hdl:1902.1/18836 | CC0 1.0 | Can be extended using the rgjdurd and rgjdura variables. Extended version included in this package. |
| utip | The University of Texas Inequality Project Categorical Dataset of Political Regimes | utip_trichotomous | trichotomous | NA | FALSE | TRUE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 2008 | http://utip.lbj.utexas.edu/datasets.html | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | Both the dichotomous and trichotomous versions of these measures are calculated by this package. The original dataset distinguishes several different types of democracy. |
| utip | The University of Texas Inequality Project Categorical Dataset of Political Regimes | utip_dichotomous,utip_dichotomous_strict | dichotomous | NA | FALSE | TRUE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 2008 | http://utip.lbj.utexas.edu/datasets.html | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | Both the dichotomous and trichotomous versions of these measures are calculated by this package. The original dataset distinguishes several different types of democracy. |
| vanhanen | Vanhanen measures of democracy, 1800-2018 | vanhanen_democratization | continuous | NA | TRUE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 1968 | https://services.fsd.tuni.fi/catalogue/FSD1289?lang=en&study_language=en | CC-BY 4.0 | Vanhanen first collected democracy data on 12 countries for his 1968 dissertation. Current data is different from the original data, though it still uses a similar conceptual scheme. |
| vaporeg | The Varieties of Political Regimes dataset by Kailitz | vaporeg_dem | dichotomous | NA | FALSE | TRUE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 2024 | https://www.va-poreg.de/ | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | This revises and extends the Kailitz dataset of political regimes. |
| vdem | The Varieties of Democracy Dataset, version 14 | v2x_polyarchy,v2x_api,v2x_mpi,v2x_libdem,v2x_partipdem,v2x_delibdem,v2x_egaldem | continuous | NA | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 2015 | https://www.v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/ | CC-BY-SA 4.0 | The full dataset be accessed using the package vdemdata. (Use “remotes::install_github(”vdeminstitute/vdemdata”)“; the package is not on CRAN) |
| wahman_teorell_hadenius | Authoritarian Regimes Data Set, version 5.0, by Axel Hadenius, Jan Teorell, & Michael Wahman | regime1ny,regime1nyrobust, regimeny, regimenyrobust | dichotomous | FH,Polity | FALSE | TRUE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 2007 | https://sites.google.com/site/authoritarianregimedataset/data | Unknown. Assumed CC0 1.0 | NA |
| wgi_democracy | The World Governance Indicators “Voice and Accountability” Index | Estimate | continuous | FH | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | TRUE | 2010 | http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi/ | Unknown. | NA |
Combining all democracy datasets
You can create one huge data frame including all democracy measures with one call:
democracy_data <- generate_democracy_scores_dataset(output_format = "wide",
verbose = FALSE)
democracy_data
#> # A tibble: 41,382 × 81
#> extended_country_name GWn cown in_GW_system year anckar_democracy
#> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <lgl> <dbl> <dbl>
#> 1 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 1997 NA
#> 2 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 1998 NA
#> 3 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 1999 NA
#> 4 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 2000 NA
#> 5 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 2001 NA
#> 6 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 2002 NA
#> 7 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 2003 NA
#> 8 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 2004 NA
#> 9 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 2005 NA
#> 10 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 2006 NA
#> # ℹ 41,372 more rows
#> # ℹ 75 more variables: anrr_democracy <dbl>, arat <dbl>, blm <dbl>,
#> # bmr_democracy <dbl>, bmr_democracy_femalesuffrage <dbl>,
#> # bmr_democracy_omitteddata <dbl>, bnr_extended <dbl>, pmm_bollen <dbl>,
#> # bti <dbl>, doorenspleet <dbl>, eiu <dbl>, fh_total_reversed <dbl>,
#> # fh_electoral <dbl>, gwf_democracy_extended <dbl>,
#> # gwf_democracy_extended_strict <dbl>, pmm_hadenius <dbl>, …You can select exactly which datasets to include in your big data frame. See ?generate_democracy_scores_dataset for further options to customize the output.
Latent Variable Indexes of Democracy
The package also offers a series of convenience functions to calculate latent variable indexes of democracy (following Pemstein, Meserve, and Melton’s 2010 article “Democratic Compromise: A Latent Variable Analysis of Ten Measures of Regime Type”); see the vignette on Replicating and Extending the UD scores of Pemstein, Meserve, and Melton. It also contains a pre-calculated extended version of these scores, available as extended_uds:
extended_uds
#> # A tibble: 37,738 × 20
#> extended_country_name GWn cown in_GW_system year z1 se_z1 z1_pct975
#> <chr> <dbl> <dbl> <lgl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl> <dbl>
#> 1 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 1997 -0.0558 0.320 0.571
#> 2 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 1998 -0.0558 0.320 0.571
#> 3 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 1999 -0.0558 0.320 0.571
#> 4 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 2000 -0.0558 0.320 0.571
#> 5 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 2001 -0.0558 0.320 0.571
#> 6 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 2002 -0.0558 0.320 0.571
#> 7 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 2003 -0.0558 0.320 0.571
#> 8 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 2004 -0.0558 0.320 0.571
#> 9 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 2005 0.144 0.318 0.767
#> 10 Abkhazia 396 NA FALSE 2006 0.144 0.318 0.767
#> # ℹ 37,728 more rows
#> # ℹ 12 more variables: z1_pct025 <dbl>, z1_adj <dbl>, z1_pct975_adj <dbl>,
#> # z1_pct025_adj <dbl>, z1_as_prob <dbl>, z1_pct975_as_prob <dbl>,
#> # z1_pct025_as_prob <dbl>, z1_adj_as_prob <dbl>, z1_pct975_adj_as_prob <dbl>,
#> # z1_pct025_adj_as_prob <dbl>, num_measures <int>, measures <list>State system functions
The package also includes a couple of other convenience functions to work with historical democracy data and determine state system membership. The first is country_year_coder, which works like the countrycode package, except that it is able to determine state system information for country-year pairs. Suppose you have this dataset:
my_weird_democracy_data <- tibble(
country = c("Germany", "Germany", "Germany",
"Germany", "East Germany",
"Federal Republic of Germany",
"Somaliland", "Somalia",
"Palestine", "Russia",
"Russia", "USSR",
"Republic of Vietnam",
"Yugoslavia", 'Yugoslavia',
"Vietnam, South"),
year = c( 2015, 1930, 1970, 1945, 1949,
1992, 1990, 1990, 1940, 1917,
1912, 1922, 1975, 1990, 1991, 1954),
my_measure = rnorm(16))
my_weird_democracy_data
#> # A tibble: 16 × 3
#> country year my_measure
#> <chr> <dbl> <dbl>
#> 1 Germany 2015 -0.181
#> 2 Germany 1930 0.480
#> 3 Germany 1970 -2.12
#> 4 Germany 1945 -1.40
#> 5 East Germany 1949 1.55
#> 6 Federal Republic of Germany 1992 -0.898
#> 7 Somaliland 1990 -1.73
#> 8 Somalia 1990 1.70
#> 9 Palestine 1940 -1.21
#> 10 Russia 1917 -0.137
#> 11 Russia 1912 0.771
#> 12 USSR 1922 0.194
#> 13 Republic of Vietnam 1975 -0.823
#> 14 Yugoslavia 1990 -0.150
#> 15 Yugoslavia 1991 1.50
#> 16 Vietnam, South 1954 1.67and you then want to add state system information. country_year_coder does that for you!
my_weird_democracy_data <- my_weird_democracy_data |>
country_year_coder(country,
year,
match_type = "country",
verbose = FALSE,
include_in_output = c("extended_country_name",
"GWn", "cown",
"polity_ccode",
"in_GW_system",
"in_cow_system",
"in_polity_system",
"polity_startdate",
"polity_enddate"))
my_weird_democracy_data |>
knitr::kable()| country | year | my_measure | extended_country_name | GWn | cown | polity_ccode | in_GW_system | in_cow_system | in_polity_system | polity_startdate | polity_enddate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 2015 | -0.1809378 | German Federal Republic | 260 | 255 | 255 | TRUE | TRUE | TRUE | 1990-10-02 | NA |
| Germany | 1930 | 0.4800263 | Germany (Prussia) | 255 | 255 | 255 | TRUE | TRUE | TRUE | 1871-01-19 | 1945-05-07 |
| Germany | 1970 | -2.1234532 | German Federal Republic | 260 | 260 | 260 | TRUE | TRUE | TRUE | 1945-05-08 | 1990-10-02 |
| Germany | 1945 | -1.3974111 | German Federal Republic | 260 | 260 | 260 | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 1945-05-08 | 1990-10-02 |
| East Germany | 1949 | 1.5519219 | German Democratic Republic | 265 | 265 | 265 | TRUE | FALSE | TRUE | 1945-05-08 | 1990-10-02 |
| Federal Republic of Germany | 1992 | -0.8984450 | German Federal Republic | 260 | 255 | 255 | TRUE | TRUE | TRUE | 1990-10-02 | NA |
| Somaliland | 1990 | -1.7347272 | Somaliland | NA | NA | NA | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | NA | NA |
| Somalia | 1990 | 1.7028987 | Somalia | 520 | 520 | 520 | TRUE | TRUE | TRUE | 1960-07-01 | NA |
| Palestine | 1940 | -1.2112663 | Palestine, State of | NA | NA | NA | FALSE | FALSE | FALSE | NA | NA |
| Russia | 1917 | -0.1369872 | Russia (Soviet Union) | 365 | 365 | 365 | TRUE | TRUE | TRUE | 1800-01-01 | 1922-12-29 |
| Russia | 1912 | 0.7705973 | Russia (Soviet Union) | 365 | 365 | 365 | TRUE | TRUE | TRUE | 1800-01-01 | 1922-12-29 |
| USSR | 1922 | 0.1935170 | Russia (Soviet Union) | 365 | 365 | 364 | TRUE | TRUE | TRUE | 1922-12-30 | 1991-12-31 |
| Republic of Vietnam | 1975 | -0.8230275 | Vietnam, Republic of | 817 | 817 | 817 | FALSE | FALSE | TRUE | 1955-10-26 | 1975-12-31 |
| Yugoslavia | 1990 | -0.1503804 | Yugoslavia | 345 | 345 | 345 | TRUE | TRUE | TRUE | 1921-01-01 | 1991-07-01 |
| Yugoslavia | 1991 | 1.5028396 | Yugoslavia | 345 | 345 | 347 | TRUE | TRUE | TRUE | 1991-07-01 | 2003-03-11 |
| Vietnam, South | 1954 | 1.6693457 | Vietnam, Republic of | 817 | 817 | 817 | TRUE | TRUE | FALSE | 1955-10-26 | 1975-12-31 |
country_year_coder tries to match not just the country name or the country code (as countrycode does), but also to figure out the appropriate state system code given the year. (Above, for example, the function figures out that Germany 1970 should get a COW code of 260, but Germany 1992 should get 255 - though it should retain the 260 code in the Gleditsch and Ward system of states. This is, incidentally, how download_fh adds the correct COW and GW country codes to Freedom House’s Excel data). It also tries to figure out whether a given country-year is in the specific state system list. (In the example above, Germany in 1945 is not listed as a member of the state system in either COW or Gleditsch and Ward, since it was occupied by the Allies as of 31 December 1945, but is listed as a member of the state system in Polity IV as the Federal Republic, though with a polity score of -66, “interregnum”).
One nice thing about country_year_coder (in my humble opinion!) is that it can sometimes correct country coding errors; I’ve run across more than one dataset with the supposed COW code 255 for the Federal Republic of Germany for the period 1955-1990, which would prevent a clean join to a dataset with the correct COW code, but would be caught by country_year_coder.
There is also a function that allows you to create a blank state system panel for any of the three main state systems:
create_panel(system = "cow")
#> # A tibble: 17,621 × 5
#> cown cow_country_name cow_startdate cow_enddate year
#> <dbl> <chr> <date> <date> <dbl>
#> 1 700 Afghanistan 1919-08-08 NA 1919
#> 2 700 Afghanistan 1919-08-08 NA 1920
#> 3 700 Afghanistan 1919-08-08 NA 1921
#> 4 700 Afghanistan 1919-08-08 NA 1922
#> 5 700 Afghanistan 1919-08-08 NA 1923
#> 6 700 Afghanistan 1919-08-08 NA 1924
#> 7 700 Afghanistan 1919-08-08 NA 1925
#> 8 700 Afghanistan 1919-08-08 NA 1926
#> 9 700 Afghanistan 1919-08-08 NA 1927
#> 10 700 Afghanistan 1919-08-08 NA 1928
#> # ℹ 17,611 more rows
create_panel(system = "GW")
#> # A tibble: 20,529 × 5
#> GWn GW_country_name GW_startdate GW_enddate year
#> <dbl> <chr> <date> <date> <dbl>
#> 1 700 Afghanistan 1919-05-01 NA 1919
#> 2 700 Afghanistan 1919-05-01 NA 1920
#> 3 700 Afghanistan 1919-05-01 NA 1921
#> 4 700 Afghanistan 1919-05-01 NA 1922
#> 5 700 Afghanistan 1919-05-01 NA 1923
#> 6 700 Afghanistan 1919-05-01 NA 1924
#> 7 700 Afghanistan 1919-05-01 NA 1925
#> 8 700 Afghanistan 1919-05-01 NA 1926
#> 9 700 Afghanistan 1919-05-01 NA 1927
#> 10 700 Afghanistan 1919-05-01 NA 1928
#> # ℹ 20,519 more rowsCitation
The standard citation function from base R will produce a list of citations for all the datasets included in this package:
citation(package = "democracyData")To cite any of the datasets included in this package use:
Acemoglu D, Naidu S, Restrepo P, Robinson JA (2019). “Democracy Does Cause Growth.” Journal of Political Economy, 127(1), 47-100. doi:10.1086/700936 https://doi.org/10.1086/700936.
Anckar C, Fredriksson C (2018). “Classifying Political Regimes 1800–2016: A Typology and a New Dataset.” European Political Science, 18(1), 84-96. doi:10.1057/s41304-018-0149-8 https://doi.org/10.1057/s41304-018-0149-8.
Arat ZF (1991). Democracy and Human Rights in Developing Countries. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder.
Bell C (2016). “The Rulers, Elections, and Irregular Governance Dataset (REIGN).”
Bernhard M, Nordstrom T, Reenock C (2001). “Economic Performance, Institutional Intermediation, and Democratic Survival.” Journal of Politics, 63(3), 775-803. doi:10.1111/0022-3816.00087 https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-3816.00087.
Bertelsmann Stiftung (2024). “Transformation Index of the Bertelsmann Stiftung 2024.” Bertelsmann Stiftung.
Bjørnskov C, Rode M (2020). “Regime Types and Regime Change: A New Dataset on Democracy, Coups, and Political Institutions.” The Review of International Organizations, 15(2), 531-551. doi:10.1007/s11558-019-09345-1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11558-019-09345-1.
Boix C, Miller M, Rosato S (2012). “A Complete Data Set of Political Regimes, 1800–2007.” Comparative Political Studies, 46(12), 1523-1554. doi:10.1177/0010414012463905 https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414012463905.
Bollen KA (2001). “Cross-National Indicators of Liberal Democracy, 1950-1990.” doi:10.3886/ICPSR02532.v2 https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR02532.v2.
Bollen K, Paxton P (2000). “Subjective Measures of Liberal Democracy.” Comparative Political Studies, 33(1), 58-86. doi:10.1177/0010414000033001003 https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414000033001003.
Bowman K, Lehoucq F, Mahoney J (2005). “Measuring Political Democracy: Case Expertise, Data Adequacy, and Central America.” Comparative Political Studies, 38(8), 939-970. doi:10.1177/0010414005277083 https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414005277083.
Cheibub JA, Gandhi J, Vreeland JR (2009). “Democracy and Dictatorship Revisited.” Public Choice, 143(1-2), 67-101. doi:10.1007/s11127-009-9491-2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-009-9491-2.
Coppedge M, Alvarez A, Maldonado C (2008). “Two Persistent Dimensions of Democracy: Contestation and Inclusiveness.” The journal of politics, 70(03), 632-647. doi:10.1017/S0022381608080663 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022381608080663.
Coppedge M, Gerring J, Knutsen CH, Lindberg SI, Teorell J, Altman D, Angiolillo F, Bernhard M, Borella C, Cornell A, Fish MS, Fox L, Gastaldi L, Gjerløw H, Glynn A, Good God A, Grahn S, Hicken A, Kinzelbach K, Marquardt KL, McMann K, Mechkova V, Neundorf A, Paxton P, Pemstein D, Rydén O, von Römer J, Seim B, Sigman R, Skaaning S, Staton J, Sundström A, Tzelgov E, Uberti L, Wang Y, Wig T, Ziblatt D (2024). “V-Dem Codebook V14.” Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project.
Coppedge M, Gerring J, Knutsen CH, Lindberg SI, Teorell J, Altman D, Angiolillo F, Bernhard M, Cornell A, Fish MS, Fox L, Gastaldi L, Gjerløw H, Glynn A, God AG, Grahn S, Hicken A, Kinzelbach K, Marquardt KL, McMann K, Mechkova V, Neundorf A, Paxton P, Pemstein D, von Römer J, Seim B, Sigman R, Skaaning S, Staton J, Sundström A, Tannenberg M, Tzelgov E, Wang Y, Wiebrecht F, Wig T, Ziblatt D (2025). “V-Dem Codebook V15.” Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project.
Coppedge M, Gerring J, Knutsen CH, Lindberg SI, Teorell J, Altman D, Bernhard M, Cornell A, Fish MS, Gastaldi L, Gjerløw H, Glynn A, Grahn S, Hicken A, Kinzelbach K, Marquardt KL, McMann K, Mechkova V, Neundorf A, Paxton P, Pemstein D, Rydén O, von Römer J, Seim B, Sigman R, Skaaning S, Staton J, Sundström A, Tzelgov E, Uberti L, Wang Y, Wig T, Ziblatt D (????). “V-Dem Codebook V13.”
Coppedge M, Reinicke WH (1990). “Measuring Polyarchy.” Studies in Comparative International Development, 25(1), 51-72.
Doorenspleet R (2000). “Reassessing the Three Waves of Democratization.” World Politics, 52(03), 384-406. doi:10.1017/S0043887100016580 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887100016580.
Freedom House (2024). “Freedom in the World 2024: The Mounting Damage of Flawed Elections and Armed Conflict.” Freedom House.
Gasiorowski M (1996). “An Overview of the Political Regime Change Dataset.” Comparative Political Studies, 29(4), 469-483. doi:10.1177/0010414096029004004 https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414096029004004.
Geddes B, Wright J, Frantz E (2014). “Autocratic Breakdown and Regime Transitions: A New Data Set.” Perspectives on Politics, 12(1), 313-331. doi:10.1017/S1537592714000851 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592714000851.
Gleditsch KS, Ward MD (1999). “Interstate System Membership: A Revised List of Independent States since the Congress of Vienna.” International Interactions, 25(4), 393-413. doi:10.1080/03050629908434958 https://doi.org/10.1080/03050629908434958.
Goldstone J, Bates R, Epstein D, Gurr T, Lustik M, Marshall M, Ulfelder J, Woodward M (2010). “A Global Model for Forecasting Political Instability.” American Journal of Political Science, 54(1), 190-208. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5907.2009.00426.x https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5907.2009.00426.x.
Gründler K, Krieger T (2016). “Democracy and Growth: Evidence from a Machine Learning Indicator.” European Journal of Political Economy, 45, 85-107. doi:10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2016.05.005 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2016.05.005.
Gründler K, Krieger T (2018). “Machine Learning Indices, Political Institutions, and Economic Development.” CESifo Group Munich.
Gründler K, Krieger T (2021/05/17/). “Using Machine Learning for Measuring Democracy: A Practitioners Guide and a New Updated Dataset for 186 Countries from 1919 to 2019.” European Journal of Political Economy, 102047. doi:10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2021.102047 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2021.102047.
Hadenius A (1992). Democracy and Development. Cambridge University Press, New York.
Hadenius A, Teorell J (2007). “Pathways from Authoritarianism.” Journal of Democracy, 18(1), 143-157. doi:10.1353/jod.2007.0009 https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2007.0009.
House F (2025). “Freedom in the World 2025: The Uphill Battle to Safeguard Rights.” Freedom House.
Hsu S (2008). “The Effect of Political Regimes on Inequality, 1963-2002.” UTIP Working Paper.
Kailitz S (2013). “Classifying Political Regimes Revisited: Legitimation and Durability.” Democratization, 20(1), 39-60.
Kailitz S (2024). “Varieties of Political Regimes (va-PoReg). Codebook. Version 1.7.” Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarianism Studies, Dresden.
Kailitz S (2024). “Varieties of Political Regimes (va-PoReg). Dataset.”
Kaufmann D, Kraay A (2020). “Worldwide Governance Indicators.”
Magaloni B, Chu J, Min E (2013). “Autocracies of the World, 1950-2012 (Version 1.0).”
Mainwaring S, Brinks D, Pérez-Liñán A (2001). “Classifying Political Regimes in Latin America.” Studies in Comparative International Development, 36(1), 37-65. doi:10.1007/bf02687584 https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02687584.
Mainwaring S, Pérez-Liñán A, Brinks D (2014). “Political Regimes in Latin America, 1900-2007 (with Daniel Brinks).” In Democracies and Dictatorships in Latin America: Emergence, Survival, and Fall. Cambridge University Press, New York.
Márquez X (2020). “democracyData: A Package for Accessing and Manipulating Existing Measures of Democracy.”
Márquez X (2016). “A Quick Method for Extending the Unified Democracy Scores.” Available at SSRN 2753830. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2753830 https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2753830.
Marshall MG, Gurr TR (2020). Polity 5: Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1800-2018. Dataset Users’ Manual..
Marshall MG, Gurr TR, Jaggers K (2019). Polity IV Project: Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1800-2018. Dataset Users’ Manual..
Moon BE, Birdsall JH, Ciesluk S, Garlett LM, Hermias JJ, Mendenhall E, Schmid PD, Wong WH (2006). “Voting Counts: Participation in the Measurement of Democracy.” Studies in Comparative International Development, 41(2), 3-32. doi:10.1007/BF02686309 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02686309.
Munck G (2009). Measuring Democracy: A Bridge between Scholarship and Politics. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
Pemstein D, Marquardt KL, Tzelgov E, Wang Y, Medzihorsky J, Krusell J, Miri F, von Römer J (2022). “The V-dem Measurement Model: Latent Variable Analysis for Cross-national and Cross-temporal Expert-coded Data.” Technical Report 21, Varieties of Democracy Institute, University of Gothenburg.
Pemstein D, Meserve SA, Melton J (2013). “Replication Data for: Democratic Compromise: A Latent Variable Analysis of Ten Measures of Regime Type.” doi:10.7910/DVN/WWYOHU https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/WWYOHU.
Pemstein D, Meserve S, Melton J (2010). “Democratic Compromise: A Latent Variable Analysis of Ten Measures of Regime Type.” Political Analysis, 18(4), 426-449. doi:10.1093/pan/mpq020 https://doi.org/10.1093/pan/mpq020.
Przeworski A (2013). “Political Institutions and Political Events (PIPE) Data Set.”
Reich G (2002). “Categorizing Political Regimes: New Data for Old Problems.” Democratization, 9(4), 1-24. doi:10.1080/714000289 https://doi.org/10.1080/714000289.
Skaaning S, Gerring J, Bartusevičius H (2015). “A Lexical Index of Electoral Democracy.” Comparative Political Studies, 48(12), 1491-1525. doi:10.1177/0010414015581050 https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414015581050.
Svolik M (2012). The Politics of Authoritarian Rule. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York.
Taylor SJ, Ulfelder J (2015). “A Measurement Error Model of Dichotomous Democracy Status.” Available at SSRN. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2726962 https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2726962.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (2025). “Democracy Index 2024: What’s Wrong with Representative Democracy?” The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited, London, UK.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (2023). “Democracy Index 2022: Frontline Democracy and the Battle for Ukraine.” The Economist Intelligence Unit.
Ulfelder J (2012). “Democracy/Autocracy Data Set.” doi:10.7910/DVN/M11WFC https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/M11WFC.
Ulfelder J, Lustik M (2007). “Modelling Transitions to and from Democracy.” Democratization, 14(3), 351-387. doi:10.1080/13510340701303196 https://doi.org/10.1080/13510340701303196.
Unit TEI (2024). “Democracy Index 2023: Age of Conflict.” Economist Intelligence Unit, London, United Kingdom.
Vanhanen T (2019). “Measures of Democracy 1810-2018 (Dataset). Version 8.0 (2019-06-17).”
Wahman M, Teorell J, Hadenius A (2013). “Authoritarian Regime Types Revisited: Updated Data in Comparative Perspective.” Contemporary Politics, 19(1), 19-34. doi:10.1080/13569775.2013.773200 https://doi.org/10.1080/13569775.2013.773200.
To see these entries in BibTeX format, use ‘print(
You can also find the citation for a specific dataset using the wrapper cite_dataset with the name of the dataset in this package:
cite_dataset("gwf")[1] B. Geddes, J. Wright, and E. Frantz. “Autocratic Breakdown and Regime Transitions: A New Data Set”. In: Perspectives on Politics 12.1 (2014), pp. 313-331. DOI: 10.1017/S1537592714000851.
Feedback and Caveats
Feedback welcome!
Note that some functions in this package can be quite slow: generating a full democracy dataset (including downloading Freedom House, Polity, and WGI) or applying country_year_coder to a large data frame both can take some time. Suggestions to accelerate the code are welcome.
country_year_coder fails to give correct answers in some weird edge cases mostly involving Yugoslavia, Germany, or Vietnam. If you run across any of these cases, let me know.