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Controlled "facts" and misinformation are the principal tools of autocratic authority.

NOTICE Regarding POLITY Project Updates

From 1994-2020, CSP/INSCR data resources, such as the Polity and Coups datasets, were generously supported with funding from the US Government (through our association with the Political Instability Task Force, PITF). That financial support was terminated on 29 February, 2020, after PITF consultant Michael D. Ward (d.) developed an algorithm for automated coding of polity scores (AI) for the PITF. This created a bit of a dilemma for further updates to the Polity data series. Updated scores would be used to compare, and verify, the automated scoring outputs. As such, further updates of Polity and other CSP/INSCR data resources are embargoed and/or delayed until a new funding mechanism is found and implemented.

NOTE: The USA dropped below the "democracy threshold" (+6) on the POLITY scale in 2020 and
was considered an anocracy (+5) at the end of the year 2020; the USA score for 2021 returned to democracy (+8).
Beginning on 1 July 2024, due to the US Supreme Court ruling granting the US Presidency broad, legal immunity,
the USA is noted by the Polity Project as experiencing a regime transition through, at least, 20 January 2025.
As of the latter date, the USA is coded EXREC=8, "Competitive Elections"; EXCONST=1 "Unlimited Executive Authority";
and POLCOMP=6 "Factional/Restricted Competition." Polity scores: DEMOC=4; AUTOC=4; POLITY=0.
The USA is no longer considered a democracy and lies at the cusp of autocracy; it has experienced a
Presidental Coup and an Adverse Regime Change event (8-point drop in its POLITY score).
Users of the Polity data series should be aware that Polity measures patterns of authority demonstrated and observed in political behaviors involving interaction events between and within state and non-state entities. Polity measures political practices rather than promises or proclamations. In 2016, CSP changed the coding for Political Competition in the USA to Factional Competition (i.e., POLCOMP=7); this coding change dropped the USA's POLITY score to +8. According to the PITF Global Model, this change to "factional competition" placed the USA at high risk of impending political instability (i.e., adverse regime change and/or onset of "systematic and sustained" political violence; possible worst case would be the "collapse of central authority"). The CSP COUP dataset lists an "attempted coup" (COUP=2) for the USA on 6 January 2021 and a successful coup (COUP=1) on 20 January 2025.

NOTE: The Polity5 Regime Narrative for the United States identifies all Polity code changes and
covers the entire period since its date of independence in 1776 through early 2025.
For the full list of countries covered by Polity5 Regime Narratives click here.

Polity5 data through 2018 is available on the INSCR Data page.