 |
Polity IV Project: Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions, 1800-2008 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 2008 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 163 countries) over the period 1800-2008. 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.
It is also the most closely scrutinized data series on political issues
as analysts and experts in academia, policy, and the intelligence community
regularly examine and often challenge Polity codings. 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. The
2008 update of the Polity IV data series is now posted on the INSCR
Data Page.
The Country Report series is currently being updated through late 2009; it will be posted in early 2010. The Polity IV Project is part of the Center for Systemic Peace. Center for Systemic Peace Home Page Global Report 2009 Polity IV Country Report 2007 Series |
|
 |
 |
Polity IV Individual Country Regime Trends, 1946-2008
The "State Fragility Index" was developed by Monty G. Marshall and Jack Goldstone at the Center for Global Policy, George Mason University, and has been an annual feature in the Global Report series, click here to view the 2007 and 2008 Global Reports in the CSP Virtual Library. The 2009 Global Report is now published jointly by the Center for Systemic Peace and the Center for Global Policy with generous support from the One Earth Future Foundation; the State Fragility Index and Matrix in included in Global Report 2009, which be viewed in PDF by clicking here..
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |