I N S T I T U T E

Organization andManagement

Copyright © University of Gothenburg, V-Dem Institute,

University of Notre Dame, Kellogg Institute. All rights reserved.

Version 6 - Mar 2016

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Authors• MichaelCoppedge–U.ofNotreDame• JohnGerring–BostonUniversity• StaffanI.Lindberg–U.ofGothenburg• Svend-ErikSkaaning,U.ofAarhus• JanTeorell–LundUniversity• FridaAndersson–U.ofGothenburg• ValeriyaMechkova–U.ofGothenburg• JosefinePernes–U.ofGothenburg• NataliaStepanova–U.ofGothenburg

Suggestedcitation:

Coppedge, Michael, John Gerring, Staffan I. Lindberg, Svend-Erik Skaaning, Jan Teorell, Frida

Andersson,ValeriyaMechkova,JosefinePernes,andNataliaStepanova.2016.“V-DemOrganization

andManagementv6.”VarietiesofDemocracy(V-Dem)Project.

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TableofContents

PROJECTTEAM 3V-DEMINSTITUTE,DATABASE,WEBSITE 6OUTREACHANDCOMMUNICATIONS 9PROGRESSTODATE 12FUNDING 15SUSTAINABILITY 16

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ThisdocumentcontainsanoverviewoftheorganizationandmanagementoftheVarieties

ofDemocracy(V-Dem).Itprovidesinformationabouttheteamworkingontheproject,the

V-Deminfrastructureandthewebsite,aswellastheoutreachandpolicy-orientedactivities,

our funding, and the progress of data collection so far. It also present the plans for

sustainabilityofouractivitiesandbenchmarksbywhichtheimpactoftheV-Demprojecton

the development community (encompassing both policymakers and academics) can be

monitoredinthecomingyears.

ProjectTeam

AcomplexundertakingsuchastheV-Demprojectrequirescoordinatingtheworkofmany

individuals,eachofwhichbringinguniqueskillsandknowledgetotheproject.

PrincipalInvestigators(PIs)–Coppedge,Gerring,Lindberg,Skaaning–constitutethe

V-DemPIBoard,chargedwiththeoverallmanagementresponsibilities.This isthehighest

decision-making body of the project and generally functions by consensus but may also

makedecisionsbyaqualified(3/4)majorityrule.ThePIsbeganworkonthisprojectin2008.

Jan Teorell was one of the founding members and was until March 2015 part of the PI

board.

Project Managers, along with the PIs, were instrumental in the development of

surveyquestionsandthepreparationofthecollectionofdatainspecificsubstantiveareas,

as follows:DirectDemocracy (DavidAltman,PontificiaUniversidadCatólicadeChile),Civil

Society (Michael Bernhard, University of Florida), Sovereignty (Michael Bernhard),

Legislatures (M. Steven Fish,UCBerkeley), Parties andParty Systems (AllenHicken,U. of

Michigan),SubnationalGovernment(KellyMcMann,CaseWestern),FormalandDescriptive

Representation (Pamela Paxton, University of Texas, Austin), Elections (Lindberg), Media

(Coppedge),CivilLiberty(Svend-ErikSkaaning),Judiciary(JeffreyStaton,EmoryUniversity),

Executives (Teorell), Political Equality (Gerring), Historical Data (Carl Henrik Knutsen,

University of Oslo), Experiments (Brigitte Zimmerman, University of North Carolina),

Evolutionary theory and democratization (Patrik Lindenfors, StockholmUniversity). Adam

Glynn(EmoryUniversity)istheprojectmanageronmethodologicalissues,DanielPemstein

(NorthDakotaStateUniversity)onmeasurementmethods,theyareassistedbyaResearch

FellowsandDataManagers (describedbelow).Thediversespecializationof the teamand

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thedivisionoflaborenableustodefineconcepts,identifyexistingdatasources,andcreate

surveyquestionsthatreflectthewide-rangingworkandaccumulatedknowledgeonthese

topics. It also allows for a decentralized system of informal consultation among experts

(academics and practitioners) in these areas. Project managers are also responsible for

assuring cross-country equivalence for their indicators, so that a given question is not

interpreteddifferentlyinvaryingcountrycontexts.MostoftheProjectManagershavebeen

partoftheprojectsince2009.

RegionalManagers(RMs)areresponsibleforrecruitingandmanagingexpertcoders,

overseeingcoding,andcheckingforproblemsofvalidityattheregionallevel.Occasionally,

RMsmanageonlyasinglecountry,inwhichcasewerefertothemasaCountryManagers

(CMs).ThefirstRegionalManagerswererecruitedinfall2011.

CountryExperts(CEs)codetype(C)indicators(seeMethodologydocument).Theyare

generallyholdersofaPhDandusuallyresidentsorcitizensofthecountrytheyarecoding.

TheyalsohavespecializedknowledgeinatleastoneofthethematicsectionsoftheV-Dem

survey.TheCountryExpertshavebeenrecruitedonarollingbasissincethestartofthepilot

studyinSpring2011.

ACountryCoordinator(CC) isselectedbytheRegionalManagerforeachcountryto

gather the type (B) data for that country and to check A* ratings (as explained in the

Methodologydocument)andassisttheRegionalManagerwiththeidentificationofCountry

Experts.

An InternationalAdvisoryBoard provides guidanceon theproject (theboard isnot

responsibleforthecontentorconductofV-Dem).TheBoardincludesamixofacademics,

jurists, and practitioners from around the world. While communication is normally

conductedthroughemailandSkype,wehopetobringtheboardtogetherperiodicallyinthe

comingyearstofacilitatein-depthdiscussion.

The V-Dem Institute is the executive management arm of V-Dem with responsibility for

mostaspectsof theproject (data collectionandprocessing,managementof the research

program, international collaborations, trainingandcapacitybuilding forpartners, regional

centers,policyanalysisandoutreach)andarelocatedattheUniversityofGothenburg:

Program and FinancialManager Josefine Pernes (MA, International Administration

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and Global Governance, University of Gothenburg 2012) and Operations and Outreach

Manager Natalia Stepanova (MA, International Administration and Global Governance,

University of Gothenburg 2011) oversee the daily operations at the V-Dem Institute,

including among other things financialmanagement, fundraising, policy-relatedwork and

external relations, overall coordination of staff, outreach and communications. They are

also coordinating all activities relating to data collection involving some three thousand

countryexperts,handlemostcoordinationandcollaborationwithRegionalManagersand

CountryCoordinatorsaroundtheworld,coordinatelateralcoding,web-sitesmaintenance,

organizeworkshopsandconferences,anddevelopmentofthecodingmanagementsystem.

The Analyst and Data Operation Manager Valeriya Mechkova (MA International

AdministrationandGlobalGovernance,UniversityofGothenburg2014)andtheAnalystand

Data Operation Officer Frida Andersson (MA International Administration and Global

Governance, University of Gothenburg 2014) have the overall responsibility for the

managementoftheV-Demdataandcoordinationofthemainreferencedocuments.They

are responsible for coding (A) typedata,which is factual in nature, independently, or in

dialoguewiththeCountryCoordinators;theyleadandperformqualitycontrolofthedata

collected with the expert surveys by carrying out systematic checks for discrepancies;

makingnecessaryrevisions;developingandimplementingscriptsandprotocolstocleanthe

data1. In addition, they are in charge of updating the codebook and other reference

documents, aswell as uploading data into theV-Demonline database andmanaging the

website online graphing tools. Andersson andMechkova are also involved in the policy-

relatedworkofV-Demintermsofproducingthematicandcountryreportsandpolicybriefs

based on V-Dem data andworking papers. They are also actively engaged in the V-Dem

collaborationwithpartnerorganizations suchas IDEA, theEuropeanCommission, Foreign

Ministries,UNDP.Holdingcapacity-buildingtrainingsonquantitativeresearchmethodsand

theV-Demonlineanalysistoolsareothertasksofthisteam.Anumberofgraduatestudents

at Notre Dame and Lund University have also provided research assistance in the past,

includingTalib Jabbar,SandraBotero,ChadKiewietde Jonge,CeciliaLero,KrystinKrause,

andRodrigoCastroCornejo.Morethan30NotreDameundergraduatestudentshavealso

helpedinvariousways.

1Toreadmoreonthecleaningprocessandprotocols,pleaserefertotheV-DemMethodology

document.

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The Data Manager Farhad Miri (MA, Department of Economics, University of

Gothenburg2014),employedby theUniversityofGothenburg, is involved inanumberof

tasksrelatedtopreparationandreleaseofthedata.Thedatamanagerislargelyinvolvedin

theworkof developing and running theMeasurementModel andworks closelywith the

measurementmodel-team.HeisalsoinchargeofcompilingthedatasetandcreatingtheV-

Demindices.

Post-Doc Research Fellows, located at the University of Gothenburg, assist with

variousaspectsofconstructingthefinalmeasurementmodel,datavalidation,aggregation,

policy-analysis,andtraining.Thecurrentpost-doctoralresearchfellowsare.KyleMarquardt

(Wisconsin-Madison, 2015), Anna Luhrmann (Humboldt University, 2015) and, from April

2016,RachelSigman(SyracuseUniversity,2015).FormerresearchfellowsareEitanTzelgov

(PhD,PennStateUniversity,2013),BrigitteZimmerman(PhD,UniversityofCalifornia,San

Diego, 2014) andYi-tingWang, (PhD,DukeUniversity),whoare all still involvedwith the

project.

Moredetailsontheprojectteamcanbefoundatthewebsite:www.v-dem.net

V-DemInstitute,Database,WebSite

TheV-Demprojecthastwoinstitutionalhomes:theV-DemInstituteintheDepartmentof

Political Science at University of Gothenburg (Sweden) and the Kellogg Institute at the

UniversityofNotreDame(USA).

TheV-DemInstituteanditsworkwiththeresearchinfrastructureisleadbyDirector

&ProfessorStaffanI.Lindberg,DepartmentofPoliticalScience,UniversityofGothenburg.

ProfessorMichaelCoppedgeistheheadoftheworkconductedatKelloggInstitute,Notre

DameUniversity.

The V-Dem research infrastructure consists of four interrelated parts: a Postgres

databasecontainingtheexpertscoding,indicesandrelateddata;softwaremanagementfor

management of data collection processes; a set of web-based coding and administrative

interfaces;apublicwebsitewithinformation,accesstodownloadofthedatafreeofcharge

aswellasasetofonlinetoolsforanalyzingthedataforexampleintermsofgraphingtools

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andmotioncharts.

ThestaffattheV-DemInstituteisresponsibleforthemanagementandcoordination

of work with coders, Regional Managers and Country Coordinators, coordination of

research,datacollection,codingoftype(A)data,qualitycontrol,cleaningandrevisionsof

the data coded by experts, the working papers series, research workshops and annual

conferences, capacity-building courses in quantitative research methods and the online

analysis tool, country and thematic reports and policy briefs, guest scholarship and

internshipprograms,andoutreachanddisseminationoftheproject.TheInstituteishosting

themanagementsoftwarethat isconnectedtothePostgresdatabaseandtheweb-based

coding interfaces,being the“heart”of theoperationsof the infrastructure, theupdateof

thedata,progressbenchmarking,andmanagementofexperts. Inasimplifieddescription,

themanagement software handles a roster of potential experts numbering some 15,000

individuals,andfortheroughly2,500countryexpertsalotofinformationonqualifications,

country-expertise,surveys,affiliation,emailssentandreceived,codingprogress,formsand

informationalmaterialsent,dates logged inandcodingconducted,paymentsmadeanda

seriesofotherinformation.ThemanagementsoftwarewasdevelopedbyJosefinePernesat

theV-Dem Institute incollaborationwith theconsultantagencyPremiumSystemAB.The

codermanagementtoolisjustoneoutofover20tools.Therearetoolsformanagementof

countries, rounds of surveys, surveys and questions, Country Coordinators, Regional

Managers, for logging activities, analyses of progress on recruitment andwell as coding,

planning and general management. Connected to this software is also a web-interface

portal whichmakes is possible for RegionalManagers to securely upload Country Expert

rosters, without having to share confidential information via email. The quality control,

cleaning, revision,uploadingandextractionofdataarecarriedoutbytheDataOperation

ManagerandOfficers inGothenburg.Thetoolsusedforthesetaskshavebeendeveloped

specificallyfortheV-Demresearchinfrastructure.

ThePostgresdatabaseconsistsof some15milliondatapointsand includesa large setof

tablesthatrelatestothedatacollection.

The V-Dem website can be viewed at www.v-dem.net. The website, survey

interfaces and underlying relational database was originally designed following our

guidance, by the Center for Research Computing (CRC) at the University of Notre Dame

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2011-2013. It has since been extensively overhauled and refined by the independent

companyImaginaryLandscapeinaprocessdirectedfromNataliaStepanovaattheV-Dem

Institute.Themostusedsectionofthewebsiteandtheonethatwillattractmoreandmore

attentioninthecomingyears,isthesectionhostingtheonlinetoolsforanalysis.Specifically

designedfortheV-Demdataandwebsite,wehaveatpresentfourtoolsforonlineanalysis.

• CountryGraphs:fordisplayinguser-selectedseriesofvariablesforonecountryover

time, allowing for several design features such as varying time period, as well as

“drillingdown”intothecomponentsofindicesatthewilloftheusers,andallowsfor

freedownloadofgraphsinpdforanotherselectedformat.

• VariableGraph: As above butwith the ability to comparemany countries for one

variableatatime.

• Map:Allows formappingthe levelofdemocracyor the levelofdevelopmentona

particularindicatorontotheworldmapofnations1945-present,thistoolisunder

developmentandwillbemadepublicatalaterstage.

• Motion Chart: Allows for bivariate graphical modeling over time of two variables

with control/illustration of a third variable, using the same type of softwareHans

RoslinghasusedforhisfamousillustrationsoftheGapminderinitiative.

• Featurestocome:Radarchart.

TheV-Demwebsite is also progressively expanding to provide additional services besides

download of the data and online analysis tools. V-Dem indicators, coding schemes,

aggregationformulas,podcastsofselectedV-Demtalks,aV-DemWorkingPaperserieswith

emerging results based on the data, thematic and country reports and policy briefs on

democracyareelementsthatwillbefeaturedinyearstocome.

The website also hosts the coding interface where Country Experts submit their

ratings.Almostalldataisenteredonlinewithexceptionsforthosedoinglateralcoding.The

coding interfaces consist of a series of web-based functions that in combination allow

experts to log in to the system using their individual, randomized username and self-

assigned, secret password, access the series of surveys assigned to them for a particular

country(orsetofcountries),andsubmitratingsforeachquestionineachsurveyoverlong

series of years (typically 113 years in the first phase of the V-Dem data collection). The

coding interfaces combines features such as allowing for many types of questions

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(binominal, ordinal, multiple selection, etc.), country-specific and question-specific year

masks (for example to allow coding of elections only in years they occurred), question-

specific instructions and clarifications, and importantly assignment of coder-self assessed

confidence levels for year rating, in every country-year. All data except confidential

informationaboutthecodersismadepublic.

OutreachandCommunications

Thecurrentprojectisinternationalincharacterandcompositiontoamuchgreaterextent

thananyotherdemocracy index.Withdualheadquartersontwodifferentcontinents,the

projectteam–consistingofPrincipalInvestigators,ProgramManagersandDataManagers,

Project Managers, Research Fellows, Regional Managers, Country Experts, and Country

Coordinators– includesnationalsofvirtuallyeverycountry intheworld.TheInternational

AdvisoryBoardincludesnationalsofBrazil,BurkinaFaso,Canada,Ghana,HongKong,India,

Indonesia,Mexico,Mongolia, theNetherlands, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, the

UnitedStates,andYemen.Altogether,membersoftheprojectteamandtheadvisoryboard

connect the V-Dem project to several dozen universities located in every region of the

world. Most important, V-Dem currently enlists over 2,500 Country Experts from nearly

everycountryintheworldtoserveascodersforourquestionnaires.

Weanticipatethat thedirect involvementofacademicsandprofessionals inV-Dem

willresultinnumerousprojects,manyofwhicharecollaborativeinnature.Indeed,manyof

thesecollaborativeprojectshavealreadybegun. Infuturedecades,weanticipatethatthe

V-Dem database and web site will become a focal point for policymakers, practitioners,

students,andscholarsacrossthesocialsciencesthatareinterestedindemocracy.

Tofacilitatethis,wehavecreatedavisitingscholarsprogramforselectedindividuals

whohaveservedascountryexperts,RegionalManagers,oradvisorsintheprojectsothat

theycanvisittheV-DemInstituteattheUniversityofGothenburgforaperiodofamonthor

so. During this time, they are expected to complete research on a theme related to the

project.

TheV-DemInstituteholdsannualconferencesatUniversityofGothenburg,aswell

as smaller workshops, as means to further stimulate innovative collaborations and as

additional venues for generating new ideas and publicizing the results of research

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conductedwithV-Demdata.

We are also introducing the project at social science conferences throughout the

world.This includesthe InternationalPoliticalScienceAssociationmeetings,atworkshops

organizedwithourRegionalManagers inAsia,Africa, EasternEurope, and LatinAmerica,

andatmeetingsofregionalpoliticalscienceassociations(Africa,EastAsia,SoutheastAsia,

Europe, Latin America, the United States). Project team members and members of the

advisoryboardwholiveorworkineachregionwillassistinthatregion’sconferences.

Publications in high-profile academic journals and press outlets of amore popular

naturewillensurethatallrelevantcommunitiesofinterestareinformedoftheavailability

ofV-Demandhowitcanbeusedtohelpthemdotheirworkbetter.

V-Demhasalso initiatedaworkingpaper series,up todate,27workingpapersare

postedontheV-Demwebsite–andtherearemoretocome.Alldataisapublicgoodbut

wearealsoaskingusersofthedatatocontributeinitialdraftsoftheirworktotheV-Dem

Working Paper series. We anticipate that by the release of the data, V-Dem data will

generateanincreasingnumberofworkingpapers, journalarticles,chapters,andbooksby

scholarsaroundtheworld,contributingtoagrowingstreamofinterrelatedresearch.

Traffictothewebsite,aschanneledbyGoogleandothersearchenginesandlinkson

related sites, offers a further channel for outreach–makingV-Demaccessible to anyone

whosearchesonkeyterms(e.g.,“democracy”).Fundingpermitting,weplantocommission

thecreationofaV-DemAppforsmartdevicesthatwouldenableuserstocheckscoresfor

selectedcountries,variables,andyears,andeventogeneratecolor-codedgraphsandmaps

on demand. The V-DemAppwill also provide access toworking papers, and podcasts of

selectedV-Demtalks.Wearealsoreachingouttothepublicviasocialmedia,andweare

launchingaweeklygraphtoattractattention.

PolicyRelevanceandInternationalCollaborations

In termsof policy-orientedwork, V-Dem is aiming to reachout to awider community of

policymakers,practitionersandorganizationsbeyondacademia.Inordertodoso,wehave

engaged in several collaborationsandparticipated indifferent typesofpolicy forumsand

dialogues.Belowwearelistingaselection:

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• V-Dem and International IDEA entered into a collaboration during 2014. This has

generatedfundingviaNORAD/NorwayandtheMinistryforForeignAffairs-Sweden,

membersofIDEA.Thefundingincludesupdatingofdatafor40countriesaswellasa

seriesofcountryreports.Wearenowco-fundraisingwithIDEAwiththeaimtogain

widersupportforamulti-yearcollaborationincludingannualupdatingoftheV-Dem

data and country briefs, joint conferences and publications, and outreach and

trainingactivities.

• V-Dem has been involved in UNDP's work on how to measure Sustainable

Development Goal 16After presenting the V-Dem data and achievements in the

UNDPHeadquarterinNewYork,V-Demhasbeenactiveinthediscussionsonhowto

measurethemilestonesforGoal16inaVirtualNetworkexpertgrouporganizedby

UNDP. Inthereportresultingfromthenetwork,60V-Demindicatorsare included.

Inconnectionto thisV-Demrepresentativeshaveparticipated inseveralhigh level

meetingsdevotedtothepost-MDGagenda.

• Wehavedevelopedanindexonpoliticalparticipation,basedonV-Demdata,forthe

CouncilofEurope.

• We are frequently conducting capacity building trainings for NGOs, young

researchersandpartnerorganizations.Forinstance,inJuly2015weledaworkshop

in Fiji for a large number of organizations from Melanasia on how to measure

democracy progress in the region.We are also conducting statistical trainings on

quantitativeresearchmethodsandhowtousetheV-Demonlineanalysistoolsand

data,firstonewasheldinAlexandrina,EgyptinOctober2015.

• TheV-DemInstituteproducesthematicreportsandcountryreportsbasedontheV-

Demdataandtothisdata10suchreportshavebeenreleased.Inordertobecome

evenmorepolicy-relevant,V-DemalsoofferspolicybriefsbasedontheV-Demdata

and theworking papers of the project. The purpose is to communicate the latest

researchtothepolicycommunityinabriefandaccessibleway.

• The team has also had direct interaction and often substantial exchangewith for

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example:EuropeanPartnershipforDemocracy(EPD),OECD/DAC,Fordi,UNDP,UN

Democracy Fund, USAID, the European Endowment for Democracy, Transparency

International, Global Integrity, the Foundation for International Relations and

Foreign Dialogue (Fride) Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, United

Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), The Netherlands

Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD), The African Institute for Economic

DevelopmentandPlanning(IDEP),theWorldBankCollaborationonInternationalICT

PolicyinEastandSouthernAfrica(CIPESA),TheNationalEndowmentforDemocracy

(NED),TheUnitedNationsCapitalDevelopmentFund(UNCDF),TheDepartmentof

Foreign Affairs and Trade / Australian Aid, Zambia National Women's Lobby,

Foundation for Democratic Process / Zambia, Swisspeace Foundation, the

International Forum for Democratic Studies, German Development Institite, GIZ,

CARE/DK,IBIS/DK,ONE,andmanymore.

In addition to this, we are also in the process of establishing regional V-Dem centers all

aroundtheworld.ThesecenterswillbringV-Demclosertothelocalandregionallevels,and

will further enhance regional research and the involvement of regional scholars. V-Dem

RegionalCentershavebeenalreadyestablished in Estonia andEgypt, andareevolving in

Portugal,Kyrgyzstan,thePhilippines,SouthAfrica,ZambiaandBurkinaFaso.

ProgresstoDate

TheprogressofV-Demmaybesummarizedinthreephases.

First,thereistheconceptionandmanagementoftheprojectitself,includingthepilot

study.ThisphasewascompletedinOctober2011.WiththesupportofSweden’sMinistryof

ForeignAffairs, theRiksbankensJubileumsfond(Sweden), theVice-Chancellor’sOffice, the

College of social Sciences, and the Department of Political Science at University of

Gothenburg,andtheKelloggInstituteandotherbodiesattheUniversityofNotreDame,we

conductedapilot study in twelve countries fromMay toDecember2011.These included

twocountries fromeachof six regions:MexicoandSuriname in theAmericas, Japanand

BurmainAsia,RussiaandAlbaniainthepost-Communistregion,SouthAfricaandGhanain

Africa,EgyptandYemen(NorthandSouth)intheMiddleEast,andSwedenandSwitzerland

in Europe. These pairs were chosen to represent countries in each region that, in our

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judgment,wouldbefairlyeasy,andfairlyhard,tocode.(Forexample,intheAmericaswe

judgedthatMexicowouldbefairlyeasyandSurinamefairlydifficult.)

Almost 100 experts submitted 461,000 country-date-question-expert observation

ratingstothedatabase.Preliminaryanalysesindicatethatthemethodologywedeveloped

wassoundandworkedasintendedtocollectdataofhighestquality.Forexample,weaskall

experts not only to choose a response to each question but also to estimate their

confidenceinalltheirresponses.Theaveragesummarycertaintylevelinthepilotdatais84

percent,whichmeansthatbasedontheagreementamongexpertsandtheirconfidencein

their ratings, we can be, on average, 84 percent confident that the summary scores are

correct. Cronbach’s alpha averages .709 (conventionally considered in the “acceptable”

range)forthe131pilot-studytype(C)questionsforwhichwehaveenoughdatatocalculate

it. In addition, very preliminary analyses have shown that aggregated scores discriminate

wellnotonlyacrosscountriesandovertime,butalsoacrosscomponents.Forexample,a

countrycandowellwithrespecttocivilsocietybutlesswellonadministrationofelections

orlegislativestrength.Suchdistinctionsareamongthemostimportantcontributionsofour

approach. But we also used the pilot study data to pinpoint the weakest questions and

modifyordropthem,andusedthis informationtorevisethequestionnaireextensively in

ordertoimprovereliabilitybeforethecurrentphaseofdatacollection.Inaddition,thepilot

studydemonstratedtheneedforhavingmorecoders/country-question,abettersystemfor

standardizeinstructionsandmanagement,aswellastheneedforanexpandedpost-survey

questionnaireallowingforsystematicassessmentofpotentialbiasesincoding.

ThesecondphaseofV-Dem,comprisingofdatacollectionfortheentireworldfrom

1900to2012,beganinMarch2012andwasconcludedinfall2014.Wecovered167ofthe

197 countries/territories existing today, this required the involvement of some 2,500

coders.Thedatabasenowcontainsmorethan15milliondatarecords.

Thisphasealso involvedcleaningof thedata, conductingextensivequality control

and measures for correcting for errors, and finally preparations of the data for public

through the web site. The full V-Dem dataset, which was first released by the end of

December 2015, includes the data collected through the country experts’ survey, factual

data collectedby assistant researchers togetherwithnumerousother existingdemocracy

indicators and indices, and finally, data on background factors. Several grants have also

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madeitpossiblefortheteamtobeginalarge-scaleresearchprogramaddressingtheissues

ofdemocratizationbothintermsofendogenousprocessesofsequencinganddiffusion,and

the role of various exogenous factors in explaining transitions to and development of

varioustypesofdemocracies.

By December 2014, V-Dem entered into a third phase where three somewhat

separateactivitiesrunsimultaneously.

A) Updates. In December 2014 to March 2015 the first update of the data was

completed.Wecollecteddatafor2013-2014for54countriesandcollecteddata

forthefulltimeperiodfrom1900to2014for6newcountries.Thedatacollected

was launched online 31 March 2015. By March 2016 the second update was

concluded.Thistime,weupdatedthedatafor76countriesfor2013-2015.Going

forwardwehopetobeabletoupdatethedataonanannualorbiannualbasisfor

allcountries.ThenextupdatetakesplaceDecember2016-March2017,thedata

will be launchedbyMarch31, 2017.Whenupdating thedata,webuild onour

established network of Regional Managers, Country Coordinators, and Country

Experts;

B) Outreach & Dissemination. This involves the V-Dem institute reaching out to

potential end-users (including the community of democracy practitioners) with

general information but also research outputs and data resources, training,

workshops,andconferencespossibly involvingproducingcountry-and thematic

reportsaswellassomeformofannualreportforthepolicycommunity,aswellas

the possibility of establishing Regional V-DemCenters in collaborationwith our

RegionalManagers;and

C)HistoricalV-Dem.Thegoal is toextendcodingforasmanypoliticalunitsandas

manyindicatorsandyearsaspossibleoftheperiodfrom1800to1899inorderto

supplement the current coverage. This project is funded by the Swedish and

NorwegianResearchCouncilsandthedatacollectionstartedinDecember2015,

principally hosted by LundUniversity (Jan Teorell) and University of Oslo (Carl-

HenrikKnutsen).

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Funding

TheprincipalfundingforthepilotphaseoftheprogramcamefromtheMinistryofForeign

Affairs-Sweden,supplementedbyasmallgrantfromtheRiksbankensJubileumsfond.

The Second Phase was funded by the Research Council of Norway (through a

collaborative arrangement with Håvard Hegre, Oslo University) which financed data

collectionfor17countries;theCanadianInternationalDevelopmentAgencyfundedanother

12 countries; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs-Denmark/Danida provided resources to

conduct data collection for 14 countries; the European Commission/EuroAid supplied a

contractthatcontributedtobothdatacollectionin42countriesandaseriesofcountry-and

thematicreportsaswellasdatabaseandwebsiteprogramming;anadditional47countries’

data collection was provided for with funding from Ministry of Foreign Affairs-Sweden;

research grants from the Swedish and Danish national research councils allowed us to

collect data in 29 more countries; and a contribution form the Quality of Government

Institutegave theopportunity tocollect thedata for3morecountries. We thus secured

fundingforthedatacollectionin173ofthecurrent197countriesintheworldwithatotal

fundingofaboutUSD4mn.

Thethirdphasefocusesonupdatingthedataforthese173countries,andenhancing

processing and quality control. International IDEA financed data collection in 6 countries

and update of the data in 29 countries (2013-2014); European Commission/EuroAid

providedfundingforupdateof thedata in21countriesover fiveyears (2014-2019);Ellen

Lust/SwedishResearchCouncilprovidedfundsforfiveadditionalcountriesinMENA(2013-

2015);andUniversityofGothenburgcontributedfundingtocoverabout60countries(2013-

2017).WealsorecentlygotagrantfromtheMarianneandMarcusWallenbergFoundation

forcoveringupdatesof35countries(2013-2019).

Thehostinguniversities, theKellogg InstituteofNotreDameand theUniversityof

Gothenburg,haveprovidedsubstantialseedfundsforthepilotphaseandbothinstitutions

havecommittedadditionalco-fundingforthedatacollection:UniversityofNotreDameat

USD500,000andUniversityofGothenburgataboutUSD2,000,000.

Outreach, capacity building and networking with Regional Managers and Country

CoordinatorsacrosstheworldhasalsobeensupportedbytheRiksbankensJubileumsfond

during2012and2013.

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The V-Dem Research Program on Democratization is primarily funded by a grant

from theRiksbankens JubileumsfondatUSD5.8mn that is co-fundedby theUniversityof

GothenburgatUSD2mn;thegranttoStaffanI.LindbergasaWallenbergAcademyFellow

(USD 1.15mn), and the grant to Staffan I. Lindberg and Jan Teorell from the Swedish

ResearchCouncil(USD0.9mn).

Sustainability

V-Dem must continually be revised and updated in order to remain useful for scholars,

practitioners,andcitizens.Thesetof indicatorscomprisingV-Demmaybeexpanded,and

some indicators may require revision. In the latter case, revisions will need to be

implementedsystematically(forallcountriesandyearsinthedatabase)sothatequivalence

acrosscountriesandthroughtimeismaintained.

Mostimportantly,V-Demwillneedtobeupdatedonanannualorsemiannualbasis

inorderforthedatatostayrelevant.Wemayusetheseupdatesasopportunitiestore-code

prioryears(e.g.,the5yearspriortotheupdate),offeringafurthercheckoninter-coder(or

intra-coder)reliability. Inanycase,wewouldemploythesamecoderswheneverpossible,

furtherenhancingtheefficiencyofeachupdate(sincecoderswouldbealreadyfamiliarwith

thedatabaseandtheon-linecodingsystem).

At present, we are discussing continued funding of (bi-)annual updates with our

existingfundersandotherinterestedpartiesfortheperiod2017-2020.