Polity

Polity

This scale is a yearly assessment that assesses most sovereign states in the world system for purposes of comparative, quantitative analysis.

For example, Polity IV was split into five categories: full democracies, democracies, open anocracies, closed anocracies, and autocracies. Status by country: Full Democracies (Score of 10): United States Canada United Kingdom Germany Japan Democracies (Score of 9 to 6): Mexico (8 points) Brazil (8 points) France (9 points) Turkey (9 points) India (9 points) Open anocracies (Score of 5 to 1): Venezuela (4 points) Nigeria (5 points) Russia (4 points) Closed anocracies (Score of -1 to -5): Morocco (-3 points) Egypt (-3 points) Afghanistan (-1 point) Autocracies (Score of -6 to -10): Cuba (-7 points) Syria (-9 points) Iran (-7 points) China (-7 points) North Korea (-10 points)

Polity IV examines concomitant qualities of democratic and autocratic authority in governing institutions, rather than discreet and mutually exclusive forms of governance.

Data Series: “Polity III” Variable Tab by EUGen

EUGene [see more here about the EUGene dataset] makes easier a number of cumbersome tasks associated with building data sets in international relations, especially data sets created with the directed dyad-year as the unit of analysis. They use data from a large number of original data sets in quantitative studies of international relations. Some of those data sets have a unit of analysis of the country-year, such as the Correlates of War national capability data set, or the Gurr Polity data sets.

Polity III Data: Output will include selected variables from the Jaggers and Gurr (1995) Polity III data set. These variables are democ, autoc, xrreg, xrcomp, xropen, mono, xconst, parreg, parcomp, and cent. In addition, the derived variable “dem” used by Russett and others is available (Dem = Democ – Autoc). In addition, lagged versions of the democ, autoc, and dem variables are available, along with democratization computed as demchg = dem – lag(dem). Select a specific subset of Polity III variables by pressing the “Variable Selection” button.

democ Jaggers and Gurr (1995) Polity III Democracy Score for CCode
democ1 democ1 Polity III Democracy Score for CCode1
democ2 democ2 Polity III Democracy Score for CCode2
autoc Polity III Autocracy Score for CCode
autoc1 autoc1 Polity III Autocracy Score for CCode1
autoc2 autoc2 Polity III Autocracy Score for CCode2
xrreg Polity III Executive Recruitment Regulation Score, CCode
xrreg1 xrreg1 Polity III Executive Recruitment Regulation Score, CCode1
xrreg2 xrreg2 Polity III Executive Recruitment Regulation Score, CCode2
xrcomp Polity III Executive Recruitment Competition Score, CCode
xrcomp1 xrcomp1 Polity III Executive Recruitment Competition Score, CCode1
xrcomp2 xrcomp2 Polity III Executive Recruitment Competition Score, CCode2
xropen Polity III Executive Recruitment Openness Score, CCode
xropen1 xropen1 Polity III Executive Recruitment Openness Score, CCode1
xropen2 xropen2 Polity III Executive Recruitment Openness Score, CCode2
mono Polity III Monocratism Score for CCode
mono1 mono1 Polity III Monocratism Score for CCode1
mono2 mono2 Polity III Monocratism Score for CCode2
xconst Polity III Executive Constraints Score for CCode
xconst1 xconst1 Polity III Executive Constraints Score for CCode1
xconst2 xconst2 Polity III Executive Constraints Score for CCode2
parreg Polity III Participation Regulation Score for CCode
parreg1 parreg1 Polity III Participation Regulation Score for CCode1
parreg2 parreg2 Polity III Participation Regulation Score for CCode2
parcomp Polity III Participation Competitiveness Score for CCode
parcomp1 parcomp1 Polity III Participation Competitiveness Score for CCode1
parcomp2 parcomp2 Polity III Participation Competitiveness Score for CCode2
cent Polity III Centralization Score for CCode
cent1 cent1 Polity III Centralization Score for CCode1
cent2 cent2 Polity III Centralization Score for CCode2

Polity III Merging, Country Code Recoding, and Notes

The Gurr et al. Polity III data set does not perfectly match up with the COW data set codings on variables in a couple of instances. As a result, some minor modifications must be made to the Polity III data before it can be used in EUGene. These changes are as follows:
1. COW codes one state of Austria-Hungary (country code 300) until 1919, but Polity III codes Austria and Hungary as separate states both before and after 1919, with country codes 305 and 310 respectively. An inspection of the Polity III data reveals that Austria and Hungary have identical values on all polity III variables for before 1919. EUGene recodes ccode 305 and 310 from the Polity III data into ccode 300 before 1919, and before 1919 only outputs data on Austria-Hungary.
2. COW and Polity III split Germany into two states after 1945, from a single ccode of 255 into ccodes 260 and 265. However, after the reunification of Germany in 1990, COW reverts to the unified Germany code of 255, while Polity III continues to code Germany as ccode 260. The Polity III coding of 260 is changed back to 255 after German reunification. So from 1990 onward in EUGene output, ccode 255 again begins to be reported for Germany, and only ccode 255 is reported.
3. COW codes pre-WWI Serbia and Yugoslavia as the same country code, 345. Polity III codes Croatia as ccode 344 up to 1915, and then Yugoslavia from 1921 forward. No 344 is coded after 1915 (until 1991); no 345 is coded before 1921. We use the country code 345 for both of these up to 1915, so only ccode 345 is coded from 1800 to 1990.
4. COW codes pre-unification Italy and Italy 1861+ as the same country code, 325. Polity III codes Sardinia as ccode 324 up to 1860, and then Italy from 1861 forward. No 324 is coded after 1861; no 325 is coded before 1861. We use the country code 325 for both of these, pre and post 1861.
Note also that Polity III data using 4 different values for missing data points (country-years). A -99 represents data that is truly missing, while -66 through -88 represent various types of polity interruptions. When EUGene calculates computed variables such as “dem” that require two valid inputs, all values from -66 through -99 are treated as missing, and so the computed variable will be missing if any necessary subcomponent has a -66 to -99 value. However, EUGene will output the actual values -66, -77, and -88 to the output file. In addition, in the SPSS, STATA, and LIMDEP command files that EUGene creates, all values from -66 through -99 are coded as missing values for the software. If the user wishes to make use of -66, -77, and -88 cases in some other fashion, he or she must customize the input command file accordingly.

Polity III variable: Democracy

democ Jaggers and Gurr (1995) Polity III Democracy Score for CCode
democ1 democ1 Polity III Democracy Score for CCode1
democ2 democ2 Polity III Democracy Score for CCode2

Polity III variable: Autocracy

autoc1 autoc1 Polity III Autocracy Score for CCode1
autoc2 autoc2 Polity III Autocracy Score for CCode2

Polity III variable: Executive recruitment regulation

xrreg Polity III Executive Recruitment Regulation Score, CCode
xrreg1 xrreg1 Polity III Executive Recruitment Regulation Score, CCode1
xrreg2 xrreg2 Polity III Executive Recruitment Regulation Score, CCode2

Source: EUGene [Expected Utility Generation and Data Management Program], V 3.2, Documentation, D. Scott Bennett and Allan C. Stam

Further Reading

Casper, Gretchen, and Claudiu Tufis. 2003. “Correlation Versus Interchangeability: the Limited Robustness of Empirical Finding on Democracy Using Highly Correlated Data Sets.” Political Analysis 11: 196-203.
Gerardo L. Munck, Jay Verkuilen (February 2002), “Conceptualizing and measuring democracy: Evaluating Alternative Indices” (PDF), Comparative Political Studies, Sage Publications, 35 (1): 5–34


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