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The "Comparative Political Data Set" (CPDS) is a collection of political and institutional country-level data provided by Klaus Armingeon, Sarah Engler, Lucas Leemann, and David Weisstanner at the University of Zurich (Switzerland), the Leuphana Universität (Germany), and the University of Lucerne (Switzerland). It consists of annual data for 36 democratic countries for the period of 1960 to 2021 or since their transition to democracy.

The present data set combines and replaces the earlier versions “Comparative Political Data Set I” (data for 23 OECD countries from 1960 onwards) and the “Comparative Political Data Set III” (data for 36 OECD and/or EU member states from 1990 onwards). A variable has been added to identify former CPDS I countries.

In addition, the "Supplement to the Comparative Political Data Set – Government Composition 1960-2020" provides detailed information on party composition, reshuffles, duration, reason for termination and the type of government for 36 OECD and/or EU-member countries.

The data set contains some additional economic, socio-economic and demographic variables. However, these variables are not the major concern of the project and are thus limited in scope. For more in-depth sources of these data, see the online databases of the OECD, Eurostat or AMECO. The CPDS is suited for cross-national, longitudinal and pooled time-series analyses.

 

News / latest updates

>>> July 2023 | New update: CPDS country-year 2021 available

>>> July 2023 | New update: CPDS by government country-year 2021

 

Citation (please refer to the respective data set as follows)

Armingeon, Klaus, Sarah Engler, Lucas Leemann and David Weisstanner. 2023.
Comparative Political Data Set 1960-2021.
Zurich/Lueneburg/Lucerne: University of Zurich, Leuphana University Lueneburg, and University of Lucerne.

Armingeon, Klaus, Sarah Engler, Lucas Leemann and David Weisstanner. 2023.
Supplement to the Comparative Political Data Set – Government Composition 1960-2021.
Zurich/Lueneburg/Lucerne: University of Zurich, Leuphana University Lueneburg, and University of Lucerne.

 

Coverage

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom & USA: 1960-2021

Greece: 1960-1967, 1974-2021

Malta: 1966-2021

Portugal & Cyprus: 1976-2021

Spain: 1977-2021

Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania & Slovakia: 1990-2021

Poland: 1991-2021

Estonia & Lithuania: 1992-2021

Latvia & Slovenia: 1993-2021

Croatia: 2000-2021