V-Dem Institute

Season's Greetings from the V-Dem Institute! We wish everyone happy holidays with some tips on what to read, listen to, and watch during the holidays, and a heads-up of what’s to come in 2025. Thank you all for this year and see you in 2025! 📰 To Read - New Papers "Achieving Transparency, Traceability, and Readability with Human-Coded Data". PS: Political Science & Politics. https://lnkd.in/gZbeyr3z "Experts, coders and crowds: An analysis of substitutability". International Political Science Review. https://lnkd.in/gVq_5_ma 🎞️ To Watch - A House Cat Asks Questions from Scratch Understanding Democracy Through Animation #1: https://lnkd.in/gVQYiHD7 Understanding Democracy Through Animation #2: https://lnkd.in/ghYhfVaz 🎧 To Listen (in Swedish) "Svensk demokrati i en internationell jämförelse", with V-Dem Institute Director Staffan I. Lindberg. https://lnkd.in/g9PVz35g “Demokrati på tillbakagång – Hongkong och världen”, with V-Dem Institute Director Staffan I. Lindberg. https://lnkd.in/gCDw3jBB 🔜 To come in 2025 - Swipe through the images

#GraphOfTheWeek Political Polarization in Three Regional Powers 📈 Political polarization is now at “toxic” levels in the three regional powers #Brazil, #India, and #Türkiye. This week’s graph shows the steep (Brazil, India) and gradual (Türkiye) increases in political polarization from 2000 to 2023. High polarization indicates that supporters of opposing political camps generally interact in a hostile manner also beyond politics, for example, in family functions, civic associations, their free time activities, and workplaces. Political actors who instrumentalize divisive and exclusionary rhetoric turn polarization toxic, undermining democracy by weakening of democratic norms, diminishing societal trust, increasing violence, and the corrosion of legislative and judicial processes. There is a slight downward shift from the extremely high political polarization in Brazil during the Bolsonaro era, following the 2022 elections. In India, polarization inclined steeply in 2013. Disinformation and hate speech proliferating on social media further fuels societal polarization that could deteriorate democracy in the country. Türkiye's polarization remains the highest among the three. The gradual increase leading to high political polarization is eroding the basis for a pluralistic democracy in Türkiye. With such toxic polarization in all three countries, it is crucial to find ways to depolarize the societies to help improve democratic quality. Text with references: https://lnkd.in/d7yq2AQR Make your own graph for any country with our graphing tools: https://lnkd.in/dMwV2Hxt ❕ Note: Our current data spans until the end of 2023. This graph does not include developments in 2024. ❕ For this V-Dem indicator, the scale is reversed, meaning that a score closer to 4 means that polarization is higher, and the situation worse. A score closer to 0 means that there is less polarization, and the situation better.

Save the Dates for the Demscore Conference 2025!

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Many analysts have considered 2024 a watershed moment for global politics, as over 70 countries representing half of the world population held national elections this year - including the historic presidential ballot in the United States. The stakes of this election year were only enhanced by the backdrop of a widespread and persistent deterioration in democratic values and the rule of law in numerous countries, as well as the world's patent inability to respond in a coordinated manner to climate change and other global challenges. As the year draws to a close, it is an opportune time to take stock of the 2024 election outcomes and examine how they bode for the world's future. Join us for a conversation with experts from leading global institutions as we unpack the lessons learned from 2024 and envision a path forward for democracy in an era of unprecedented global challenges. Key Discussion Topics: 1. Global Election Outcomes: What are the most significant outcomes of the electoral year and what type of global outlook do they shape? 2. Democratic Backsliding 2.0: What do these elections tell us about the trend of democratic backsliding that we have observed over the past 10-15 years? 3. Global Governance and Democracy: What are the prospects for effectively governing global challenges in light of these electoral outcomes, and how are global challenges likely to affect our fragile institutions in return? Date: 10 December 2024 Time: 14:00 CET, 08:00 EST Register Now: https://lnkd.in/d2kRBWdP Sarah Lister Professor Staffan I. Lindberg Alejandro Ponce Future Horizons Institute World Justice Project V-Dem Institute #GlobalPolitics #DemocracyMatters #Elections2024 #DemocraticGovernance #ElectionOutcomes2024 #GlobalDemocracy #DemocraticBacksliding #PolicyAnalysis #PoliticalInsights #FutureOfDemocracy #2024ElectionsImpact #GlobalLeadership #ElectionsAndDemocracy

🎧 Fredagsunderhållning: Lyssna på podd om de globala demokrati-trenderna med särskilt fokus på Hongkong. V-Dem Institute's Professor Staffan I. Lindberg medverkar.

#GraphOfTheWeek Democracy in Decline in #Israel For the first time in 50 years, Israel* is downgraded from the liberal democracy category. This week´s graph shows the decline of three indicators related to the judiciary and civil liberties in Israel over the past 10 years (2013-2023) that contribute to the overall decline. For each indicator, a score closer to zero signals a worsening situation. Government attacks on the judiciary are becoming more frequent. In 2019, amid corruption charges, Prime Minister Netanyahu accused key figures in the judiciary of conspiring with police forces in a joint “attempted coup”. In 2023, the Knesset passed a bill that severely curtailed the Supreme Court´s powers to overrule government decisions and invalidate laws passed by parliament. Mass protests quickly gained momentum to denounce this plan of judicial overhaul against the most important Israeli court. Moreover, international observers point at the widespread discriminatory practices that Israeli authorities employ towards minorities, resulting in arbitrary law enforcement. Administrative detentions, degrading treatment of prisoners, and incidents of torture have worsened significantly in 2023, in the context of the war against Hamas. This is reflected in the recent decline in the indicators of transparent laws with predictable enforcement and freedom from torture. Famously celebrated as the only democracy in the Middle East, the current situation raises serious concerns about the survival of Israel´s democracy amid its deteriorating human rights record.   *This graph does not reflect conditions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which are coded as separate country units. Text with references: https://lnkd.in/daAVccbN

📢 New Working Paper: Education, Indoctrination, and Mass Mobilization in Autocracies By Prince Selorm Tetteh and Amanda B. Edgell, #UniversityofAlabama Read at https://lnkd.in/dfgXEVgR Amanda Edgell Prince Selorm Tetteh University of Gothenburg The University of Alabama

📢 Targeted Call for Country Experts For the coming data collection cycle in January, we welcome additonal applications from experts on a few countries and subject areas/surveys.  Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/dFTbFSZN V-Dem’s data is a mix of observable data (official statistics) and expert coded data. More than 4200 Country Experts have contributed to the V-Dem project over the years, providing detailed, local knowledge via our online surveys. We use experts because many key features of democracy are not directly observable. For example, it is easy to observe whether or not a legislature has the legal right to investigate an executive. However, assessing the extent to which the legislature actually does so requires evaluation by experts with extensive conceptual and case knowledge. Read more about the V-Dem Methodology: https://lnkd.in/dnCaMQmS Read more about the role of Country Experts: https://lnkd.in/dGsMGyai