Nations, Development, and Democracy, 1800-2005

To serve the scholarly community's growing interest in the
process of democratization in the world over the past 200 years, this
data collection consists of a compiled database that assesses 187 (20
historical and 167 contemporary) sovereign countries from 1800-2005.
The database was constructed by merging variables derived from these
existing datasets: (1) POLITY III: REGIME TYPE AND POLITICAL AUTHORITY
1800-1994 (Jagger and Gurr 1995) [ICPSR 6695], (2) CROSS-NATIONAL TIME
SERIES, 1815-1973 (Banks 1993) [ICPSR 7412], (3) Polity IV (Jagger and
Gurr 2005), (4) Political Freedom Indicators (Freedom House 2000), (5)
World Development Indicators 1960-1998 (World Bank 1999), and (6)
World Development Indicators 1960-2005 (World Bank 2006). In addition,
missing variables were coded from the Statesman's Yearbook (2000), the
World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators (Taylor and Jodice
1983), Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Relations
(Osmanczyk 1982), and the journal, "Freedom Review," published by
Freedom House. A sovereign country was defined as an independent
member of the international system, which had a population greater
than 500,000. In the database, for each sovereign country there are
over 120 indicators, annually recorded, that represent: (1) the level
of democratic growth, (2) the countries' development depicted by
socioeconomic, demographic, and geographical characteristics, and (3)
diffusion indicators. In addition, to add precision to the
measurement, modifications of the core indicators were also
recorded. The database is complimented by an index of variables.