Polity IV Country Reports

http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/inscr/polity/report.htm

Polity IV is essentially an attempt to rate the world's regimes on their level of democracy. It's a fascinating and sophisticated exercise, though done at a leisurely academic pace, so a bit out of date. The graphs contain historical data on democratization and armed conflicts; the charts and text describe the political system. The strick, intelligent methodology makes this a useful analytical tool -- an alternative to the more populist Freedom in the World index. Go here for definitions of the various oddly-named "sub-indices" (XRREG, XRCOMP, etc.).

KEYWORDS: democratization, political violence statistics