POLS 235: African Politics (HC): Data

The African Elections Project website was established in 2008 with the aim of "enhancing the ability of journalists, citizen journalists and the news media to provide more timely and relevant elections information and knowledge while undertaking monitoring of specific and important aspects of governance."-- website

An independent, nonpartisan research project measuring the social, political and economic atmosphere in Africa. Afrobarometer surveys are conducted in more than a dozen African countries and are repeated on a regular cycle. Because the instrument asks a standard set of questions, countries can be systematically compared. Currently, data is available from Round 1 (1999-2001, 12 countries), Round 2 (2002-2004, 16 countries) and Round 3 (2005-2006, 18 countries). Round 4 is in the planning stages.

The ICRG (International Country Risk Guide) Researcher's Dataset from the PRS Group comprises 22 variables in three subcategories of risk (political, financial, and economic), for 146 countries, over the period 1984 to the previous year. Use Lexis Nexis to see individual country reports:
1) Click on Search by Subject or Topic
2) Choose Country Information
3) Pull down Advanced Options and uncheck all databases except PRS Risk Guide & Service
For a more in-depth look you can download the full data set. Data are annual averages of components published in the International Country Risk Guide.

Search for data and reports by region or by country.

Governance indicators for 213 countries cover six areas: Voice and accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government effectiveness, Regulatory quality, Rule of law, and Control of corruption.