{{short description|Swedish research institute}}
{{redirect|Varieties of Democracy|varieties of democracy|Types of democracy}}
{{use dmy dates |date=August 2020}}
The '''V-Dem Institute''' (an abbreviation of '''Varieties of Democracy Institute'''), founded by [[Staffan I. Lindberg]] in 2014, is an independent [[research institute]] that serves as the headquarters of the V-Dem Project, a database that seeks to conceptualize and measure democracy. V-Dem defines democracy using seven key principles (electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, egalitarian, majoritarian, and consensual) that emphasize the concept of "[[Popular sovereignty|rule of the people]]".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Coppedge |first1=Michael |last2=Gerring |first2=John |last3=Knutsen |first3=Carl Henrik |last4=Lindberg |first4=Staffan I. |last5=Teorell |first5=Jan |last6=Marquardt |first6=Kyle L. |last7=Medzihorsky |first7=Juraj |last8=Pemstein |first8=Daniel |last9=Fox |first9=Linnea |last10=Gastaldi |first10=Lisa |last11=Pernes |first11=Josefine |last12=Rydén |first12=Oskar |last13=von Römer |first13=Johannes |last14=Tzelgov |first14=Eitan |last15=Wang |first15=Yi-ting |date=2024 |title=V-Dem Methodology v14 |url=https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4782726 |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |doi=10.2139/ssrn.4782726 |issn=1556-5068|url-access=subscription }}</ref> As part of its work, it publishes a dataset known as the [[V-Dem Democracy Indices]] that is based on its key principles. The headquarters of the project is based at the department of political science, [[University of Gothenburg]], Sweden.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Varieties of democracy (V-dem) – Varieties of democracy (V-dem), University of Gothenburg, Sweden |url=https://pol.gu.se/english/varieties-of-democracy--v-dem- |access-date=24 March 2020 |archive-date=13 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313092140/https://pol.gu.se/english/varieties-of-democracy--v-dem- |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Democracy indices ==
{{Main|V-Dem Democracy Indices}}
{{Multiple image | total_width=600
| image1            = V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index 2026 World.svg
| image2            = V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index 2026 World.svg
| caption1          = Electoral Democracy Index<ref name=VDEM_Report_2026>{{cite web |title=Democracy Report 2026 / Unraveling The Democratic Era? |url=https://www.v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem_Institute_Democracy_Report_2026_lowres.pdf |publisher=[[V-Dem Institute]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260320121434/https://www.v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem_Institute_Democracy_Report_2026_lowres.pdf |archive-date=20 March 2026 |page=33 In Focus: Autocratization in the USA |date=March 2026 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| footer            = {{Col-begin}}
{{Col-break}}
{{Legend|#0c3091|0.90–1.00}}
{{legend|#2f5cd5|0.80–0.89}}
{{legend|#6bd2df|0.70–0.79}}
{{legend|#c3eded|0.60–0.69}}
{{Col-break}}
{{legend|#f9f8bb|0.50–0.59}}
{{legend|#fad45d|0.40–0.49}}
{{legend|#da820f|0.30–0.39}}
{{legend|#a8261f|0.20–0.29}}
{{Col-break}}
{{legend|#66000f|0.10–0.19}}
{{legend|#240011|0.00–0.09}}
{{legend|#c0c0c0|No data}}
{{Col-end}}
| caption2          = Liberal Democracy Index<ref name=VDEM_Report_2026/>
| footer_align      = center
| image3= 1790- Electoral and liberal democracy indices - world.svg |caption3= The V-Dem Institute's indices over time<ref name=VDem_world>{{cite web |title=Country Graph |url=https://www.v-dem.net/data_analysis/CountryGraph/ |publisher=V-Dem Institute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260301172546/https://www.v-dem.net/data_analysis/CountryGraph/ |archive-date=1 March 2026 |date=March 2026 |url-status=live}} (Choose "World" and under "VDem Indices" select "Election Democracy Index" and "Liberal Democracy Index". Click on the three horizontal lines in the upper right, and in the resulting drop-down menu choose "Download Graph Data as CSV")</ref>
}}
The V-Dem Institute publishes a number of high-profile datasets that describe qualities of different governments, annually published and publicly available for free.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/03/30/new-index-rates-countries-degree-freedom-scholars|title=Ranking Academic Freedom Globally|first=Elizabeth|last=Redden|date=March 30, 2020|website=Inside Higher Ed}}</ref> These datasets are used by political scientists, due to information on hundreds of indicator variables describing all aspects of government, especially on the quality of democracy, inclusivity, and other economic indicators.<ref>{{cite web |last=V-Dem Institute |date=2022 |title=The V-Dem Dataset |url=https://www.v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/ |access-date=8 December 2022}}</ref> Compared to other measures of democracy (such as the [[Polity data series]] and [[Freedom House]]'s ''[[Freedom in the World]]''), the V-Dem Institute's measures of democracy are more granular<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Hegedüs|first=Daniel|date=2020|title=Varieties of Democracy: Measuring Two Centuries of Political Change. By Michael Coppedge, John Gerring, Adam Glynn, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Staffan I. Lindberg, Daniel Pemstein, Brigitte Seim, Svend-Erik Skaaning, and Jan Teorell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. 226p. $99.99 cloth.|journal=Perspectives on Politics|language=en|volume=18|issue=4|pages=1258–1260|doi=10.1017/S1537592720003059|issn=1537-5927|doi-access=}}</ref> and 2020 included "more than 470 indicators, 82 mid-level indices, and 5 high-level indices covering 202 polities from the period of 1789–2019".<ref name=":0" /> [[Political Scientist|Political scientist]] Daniel Hegedus describes V-Dem as "the most important provider of [[Quantitative research|quantitative]] democracy data for scholarly research".<ref name=":0" />

The V-Dem institute also republishes 59 other indicators<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.nd.edu/news/new-democracy-dataset-to-revolutionize-democracy-research/|title=New democracy dataset to 'revolutionize' democracy research|first=Elizabeth|last=Rankin|website=Notre Dame News|date=8 January 2016 }}</ref> and several other indices which are created, in part, with the assistance of V-Dem indices. The Digital Society Project is a subset of indicators on V-Dem's survey which asks questions about the political status of social media and the internet.<ref name=":2">Coppedge, Michael, John Gerring, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Staffan I. Lindberg, Jan Teorell, David Altman, Michael Bernhard, Agnes Cornell, M. Steven Fish, Lisa Gastaldi, Haakon Gjerløw, Adam Glynn, Allen Hicken, Anna Lührmann, Seraphine F. Maerz, Kyle L.Marquardt, Kelly McMann, Valeriya Mechkova, Pamela Paxton, Daniel Pemstein, Johannes vonRömer, Brigitte Seim, Rachel Sigman, Svend-Erik Skaaning, Jeffrey Staton, Aksel Sundtröm, EitanTzelgov, Luca Uberti, Yi-ting Wang, Tore Wig, and Daniel Ziblatt. 2021. "V-Dem Codebook v11"Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project.[https://www.v-dem.net/media/filer_public/be/11/be11d657-a240-4fb0-a47f-bc151296e779/codebook.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608011903/https://www.v-dem.net/media/filer_public/be/11/be11d657-a240-4fb0-a47f-bc151296e779/codebook.pdf|date=8 June 2021}}</ref>

== Democracy Report ==
[[File:Countries democratizing or autocratizing substantially and significantly 2010–2020.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|The institute evaluates states regarding democracy, having identified between 2010 and 2020 the marked states in red as having become more autocratic and in blue more democratic.]]
The V-Dem Institute publishes the Democracy Report that describes the state of democracy in the world, with a focus on [[democratization]] and [[autocratization]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.v-dem.net/publications/democracy-reports/ | title=Democracy Reports  | access-date=May 26, 2023  | website = V-Dem Institute }}</ref> The Democracy Report is published annually in March. The Democracy Report, the dataset, scientific articles, and working papers are free to download on the institute's website, which also provides interactive graphic tools.<ref>{{Cite web |title=V-Dem |url=https://www.v-dem.net |access-date=May 2, 2025 |website=V-Dem}}</ref>

== ERT dataset ==
The Episodes of Regime Transformation (ERT) dataset identifies and collects data on episodes of democratization (liberalizing autocracy, democratic deepening) and autocratization (democratic regression, autocratic regression) within the V-Dem dataset. They conceptualize episodes of regime transformation as "periods when a country undergoes sustained and substantial changes  along a democracy-autocracy continuum."<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Maerz |first1=Seraphine F. |last2=Edgell |first2=Amanda B. |last3=Wilson |first3=Matthew C. |last4=Hellmeier |first4=Sebastian |last5=Lindberg |first5=Staffan I. |date=February 2021 |title=A Framework for Understanding Regime Transformation: Introducing the ERT Dataset |url=https://www.v-dem.net/media/publications/wp113.pdf |access-date=May 2, 2025 |website=V-Dem}}</ref>

== V-Party dataset ==
The Varieties of Party Identity and Organization (V-Party) dataset is a database maintained by the V-Dem Institute that tracks the political positions and structures of political parties around the world<ref>{{Cite web |title=V-Party Dataset |url=https://www.v-dem.net/data/v-party-dataset/ |website=V-Dem}}</ref> The database includes parties around the world with over 5% of the vote in their respective systems in the period between 1970 and 2019. <ref>Staffan I. Lindberg, Nils Düpont, Masaaki Higashijima, Yaman Berker Kava- soglu, Kyle L. Marquardt, Michael Bernhard, Holger Döring, Allen Hicken, Melis Laebens, Juraj Medzihorsky, Anja Neundorf, Ora John Reuter, Saskia Ruth–Lovell, Keith R. Weghorst, Nina Wiese- homeier, Joseph Wright, Nazifa Alizada, Paul Bederke, Lisa Gastaldi, Sandra Grahn, Garry Hindle, Nina Ilchenko, Johannes von Römer, Steven Wilson, Daniel Pemstein, and Brigitte Seim. 2022. “Codebook Varieties of Party Identity and Organization (V–Party) V2”. Varieties of Democracy (V–Dem) Project. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.23696/vpartydsv2</nowiki></ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Max Fisher: [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/16/world/americas/democracy-decline-worldwide.html U.S. Allies Drive Much of World’s Democratic Decline, Data Shows: Washington-aligned countries backslid at nearly double the rate of non-allies, data shows, complicating long-held assumptions about American influence], ''[[The New York Times]]'', November 16, 2021
* Vanessa A. Boese, Markus Eberhardt: [https://www.v-dem.net/media/publications/Working_Paper_131.pdf Which Institutions Rule? Unbundling the Democracy-Growth Nexus], V-Dem Institute, Series 2022: 131, February 2022

==External links==
* [https://www.v-dem.net/ Official website]

{{Politics country lists}}
{{authority control}}

{{coord missing|Sweden}}

[[Category:Political research institutes]]
[[Category:Research institutes in Sweden]]
[[Category:University of Gothenburg]]