Polity5 Regime Narratives 2018

The Polity5 Country-Process Narrative format has been developed for the refinement of the Polity5 data series; each country's narrative account provides a chronological explanation of the systemic process of changing political authority as captured in that country's Polity scores from 1946, or its date of independence, through 2018; some begin just prior to the first (contemporary) recorded episode of "factionalism" (see below). This new report format will increases the transparency of the data series and enhances understanding of both the particular application of  the Polity coding scheme to a country's "historical record" and the observable process of managing regime authority amid political macro-level dynamics during the contemporary Globalization Era. Democratic authority in the contemporary period differs substantively from democratic authority in earlier periods as it necessarily involves universal suffrage as a defining principle, whereas earlier forms of democracy were based on limited suffrage in which a majority of constituents and marginal groups remained disenfranchised.

The contemporary era The Polity5 Project review and refinement effort is being conducted in response to the increasing use of the Polity data series in quantitative research in order to increase the veracity of the individual data components and the ability to conduct more detailed analysis based on the component and conceptual indicators that comprise the POLITY index; the Polity5 review and refinement process is ongoing. Only completed Polity5 narratives are provided here; the completed narratives at this time cover mainly countries that have experienced a period (or periods) of [polar] "factionalism" (PARCOMP = 3). This coded condition was singled out through extensive quantitative modeling and has been identified as the most powerful precusor to regime instability events including autocratic backsliding and onsets of civil warfare (factional groupings for each period of factionalism are identified in the narratives). The successful management of [polar] "factionalism" by regime authorities has also been found to be key to the consolidation and resilience of democratic authority. Additional country narratives will be included as they are completed.

Note: Countries highlighted in red in the table below experienced at least one episode of [polar] "factionalism" (PARCOMP=3; POLCOMP=6 or 7) and/or "state failure" (POLITY=-77; "interregnum," a more extreme form of factionalism that fractures the state, denoted with darker shade of red in the table below) during the contemporary period, 1946 to present. The Polity5 regime narrative for the United States covers the entire period since its date of independence, 1776-2020.

 

	North America
	Canada	Guatemala	Mexico	United States
	Costa Rica	Haiti	Nicaragua
	Cuba	Honduras	Panama
	Dominican Republic	Jamaica	El Salvador

	South America
	Argentina	Colombia	Peru	Venezuela
	Bolivia	Ecuador	Suriname
	Brazil	Guyana	Trinidad & Tobago
	Chile	Paraguay	Uruguay

	Europe
	Albania	Finland	Luxembourg	Serbia
	Austria	France	Macedonia	Slovakia
	Belarus	Germany	Moldova	Slovenia
	Belgium	Greece	Montenegro	Spain
	Bosnia	Hungary	Netherlands	Sweden
	Bulgaria	Ireland	Norway	Switzerland
	Croatia	Italy	Poland	United Kingdom
	Czech Republic	Kosovo	Portugal	Ukraine
	Denmark	Latvia	Romania
	Estonia	Lithuania	Russia

	Asia and the Pacific
	Afghanistan	Japan	North Korea	Taiwan
	Australia	Kazakhstan	Pakistan	Tajikistan
	Bangladesh	Kyrgyzstan	Papua New Guinea	Thailand
	Bhutan	Laos	Philippines	Timor Leste
	Cambodia	Malaysia	Singapore	Turkmenistan
	China	Mongolia	South Korea	Uzbekistan
	Fiji	Myanmar	South Vietnam	Vietnam
	India	Nepal	Solomon Islands
	Indonesia	New Zealand	Sri Lanka

	North Africa and the the Middle East
	Algeria	Georgia	Libya	Qatar
	Armenia	Iran	Mali	Saudi Arabia
	Azerbaijan	Iraq	Mauritania	Syria
	Bahrain	Israel	Morocco	Tunisia
	Chad	Jordan	Niger	Turkey
	Cyprus	Kuwait	North Sudan	United Arab Emirates
	Egypt	Lebanon	Oman	Yemen

	Sub-Saharan Africa
	Angola	Cote d'Ivoire	Lesotho	Somalia
	Benin	Djibouti	Liberia	South Africa
	Botswana	Equatorial Guinea	Madagascar	South Sudan
	Burkina Faso	Eritrea	Malawi	Swaziland
	Burundi	Ethiopia	Mauritius	Tanzania
	Cameroon	Gabon	Mozambique	Togo
	Cape Verde	Gambia	Namibia	Uganda
	Central African Republic	Ghana	Nigeria	Zambia
	Comoros	Guinea-Bissau	Rwanda	Zimbabwe
	Dem. Republic of Congo	Guinea	Senegal
	Republic of Congo	Kenya	Sierra Leone