 |
Polity IV Project: Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1800-2006 Monty G. Marshall, Director Monty G. Marshall and Keith Jaggers, Principal Investigators George Mason University and Colorado State University Ted Robert Gurr, Founder University of Maryland |
 |
|
| The Polity IV Project continues the Polity research tradition of coding the authority characteristics of states in the world system for purposes of comparative, quantitative analysis. The original Polity conceptual scheme was formulated, and the original Polity I data collected, under the direction of Ted Robert Gurr; the Polity scheme was informed by foundational, collaborative work with Harry Eckstein, Patterns of Authority: A Structural Basis for Political Inquiry (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1975). The Polity project has proven its value to researchers over the years, becoming the most widely used data resource for studying regime change and the effects of regime authority. The Polity IV Project carries data collection and analysis through 2006 and is under the direction of Monty G. Marshall at the Center for Systemic Peace and George Mason University. | |
| Brief Description:
The Polity conceptual scheme is unique in that it examines concomitant
qualities of democratic and autocratic authority in governing
institutions, rather than discreet and mutually exclusive forms of governance.
This perspective envisions a spectrum of governing authority that spans
from fully institutionalized autocracies through mixed, or incoherent,
authority regimes (termed "anocracies") to fully institutionalized
democracies. The "Polity Score" captures this regime authority
spectrum on a 21-point scale ranging from -10 (hereditary monarchy) to
+10 (consolidated democracy). The Polity scores can also be converted
to regime categories: we recommend a three-part categorization of "autocracies"
(-10 to -6), "anocracies" (-5 to +5 and the three special values:
-66, -77, and -88), and "democracies" (+6 to +10); see "Global
Regimes by Type, 1946-2006" above. The Polity scheme consists of
six component measures that record key qualities of executive recruitment,
constraints on executive authority, and political competition. It also
records changes in the institutionalized qualities of governing authority.
The Polity data include information only on the institutions of the central
government and on political groups acting, or reacting, within the scope
of that authority. It does not include consideration of groups and territories
that are actively removed from that authority (i.e., separatists or "fragments";
these are considered separate, though not independent, polities) or segments
of the population that are not yet effectively politicized in relation
to central state politics. The Polity project has evolved through three earlier research phases, all under the direction of Ted Gurr. The Polity III phase updated core Polity data through 1992 and was later updated through 1998 and released as the Polity98 version. Through its evolution, the format of the Polity data has been transformed from its original focus on "persistence and change" in the "polity" as the unit of analysis (i.e., polity-case format) to its present country-year case format, which is the preferred format for inclusion in time-series analyses. The original Polity I format was revisited by a research team under the direction of Nils Petter Gleditsch and information concerning the dates of polity changes was updated in 1994 and made available in the original polity-case format as Polity IIId. In the late 1990s, Polity became a core data project in the U.S. Government's State Failure Task Force global analysis project (since, renamed the Political Instability Task Force; PITF). The special focus on "state failure" problem events within a general context of societal and systemic development processes requires information pertinent to both Polity foci, that is, state continuity and change (country-year format) and regime persistence and change (polity-case format), be combined in a single data resource base. The fourth phase of the project, Polity IV, combines information from those two formats in a single data resource. Annual Polity IV records code the regime characteristics in effect on December 31 of the record year and provide the dates and magnitide of Polity changes that occurred during the record year. |
|
 |
 |
| The
Polity IV dataset covers all major, independent states in the global system
(i.e., states with total population of 500,000 or more in the most recent
year; currently 162 countries) over the period 1800-2006. With the
support of the PITF, the Polity IV Project has been transformed into a
living, data collection effort; meaning that it constantly monitors
regime changes in all major countries and provides annual assessments
of regime authority characteristics and regime changes and data updates.
Monitoring real-time events requires Polity analysts to make tentative
assessments of the trajectories of unfolding political dynamics and their
effect on the essential qualities of governing institutions, or patterns
of authority. Recent annual Polity records are routinely re-examined
during each annual update and may be revised in light of further information
regarding institutional practice. In addition, historical cases are often
re-examined, often as a result of questions raised by users and country
experts, and may be refined in conformance with new information or the
correction of errors in the records. Along with the annually updated version
of the Polity IV data series, we provide a separate record of substantive
changes made to the data records during the annual update procedure (simple
corrections are not reported). We also provide a separate version of the
dataset in "polity-case" format: Polity IVd. The standard method
for documentation of data collection in the social sciences, that is,
coding sheets, has been replaced by a more detailed description of Polity
characteristics and changes for each individual country in the data series:
the annual Polity IV Country Report series. We have also compiled a list
of non-constitutional changes in executive leadership (e.g., coups d'etat,
revolutions, or forced resignations) that may not be captured in changed
Polity scores or may result in only minor changes of Polity scores. The
Polity IV data resources and Country Report series are now hosted on the
Center for Systemic Peace Web site. Click on any of the four graphs
displayed in this section for a more detailed explanation of the nuanced
characteristics Polity data series and its relationship to conflict
management and the onset of political instability. Click on the links
below to access to the most recent version of the Polity data series
and country reports. Polity IV Country Report 2006 Series |
|
 |
 |
Polity IV Individual Country Regime Trends, 1946-2006
The "State Fragility Index" was developed by Monty G. Marshall and Jack Goldstone at the Center for Global Policy, George Mason University, and is an annual feature in Foreign Policy Bulletin, click here to view the 2007 and 2008 Global Reports in the CSP Virtual Library.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |