New measuring instrument of statehood research: Stateness Index StIx
06/12/2023The new stateness index is the result of the DFG research project "The Stateness Index StIx: Measurement and Analysis of Stateness " at the Department of Comparative Politics at the University of Würzburg, headed by Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Lauth and conducted by Dr.in Theresa Paola Stawski.
The Stateness Index is a tool for measuring stateness and state quality that includes country-ranking through aggregated and disaggregated data to advance performance comparison and analysis. Drawing on data from the Varieties-of-Democracy-Project (V-Dem), the index offers data for more than 170 countries between 1950 and 2021.
The institutional understanding of the state underlying the measurement of StIx conceptualises the State as an institutionalized social and political order and organization of hierarchical authority that is in exclusive control of the Monopoly of Law, Monopoly of Violence and Monopoly of Administration throughout a given territory and its inhabitants. Within the framework of the project, annual data has been generated for approximately 170 countries since 1950, resulting in a comprehensive data set that can be visualised on the homepage, edited according to own selection criteria and downloaded. Explanations on the data set, selection of indicators and aggregation procedures can be found on the homepage.
As of now, the results of the measurement are freely accessible on the homepage www.stateness-index.org. The homepage is aimed at researchers, actors from political practice, students and the interested public. In addition, the homepage offers online analysis tools to explore the world of states and analyse specific state profiles as well as trends and regional distribution patterns.
