Polity Score Analysis

Polity score analysis uses the Polity dataset to measure and compare the regime characteristics of states on a continuum from full autocracy to full democracy. Maintained by the Center for Systemic Peace (Marshall and Gurr), Polity codes institutional features — how chief executives are recruited, the constraints on their authority, and the openness of political competition — into separate democracy and autocracy indices that combine into a single polity score from −10 to +10. It is one of the most widely used measures of regime type in comparative politics and international relations.