This project was created at the University of Washington for the Department of Human
Centered Design and Engineering's Information Visualization class. The collaborators
on this project were Megan Brown, Samantha Muscat-Scherr,
Camila Proffitt, Ellen Reed, and Spencer Wilkerson.
We set out to explore the erosion of democracy around the world. We are currently
experiencing a wave of autocratization around the world, the third such wave of the modern era.
In 2019, almost one third of people in the world live in countries that are
experiencing democratic erosion, many of them with powerful
economies and significant global influence, such as India, Brazil, and the United States.
The first wave, 1922 to 1942, ended in a world war. The second wave, 1960 to 1975, saw the rise
of authoritarian regimes around the world, followed by massive increases in political violence.
It is our hope that, by studying democracy and the factors that contribute to its decline, we can
generate ideas to reverse the tide and prevent a similar fate befalling us a third time.
The first two waves were characterized largely by sudden episodes, such as coups, invasions, or
dictators seizing power, while the third wave is largely happening more gradually and insidiously
under a facade of legitimacy. Leaders are swept to power through normal elections, and then seek to
undermine and chip away at the democratic institutions in their country without abolishing them outright.
The first two waves also mostly affected countries that were struggling to establish stable democratic
systems, whereas this most recent wave is primarily affecting established liberal democracies.
As we face increasing societal polarization through social media and state-orchestrated disinformation
campaigns, it is important to remember that the share of democracies in the world is near the highest
it’s ever been, at greater than 50%. Democratization is still occurring in many parts of the world, and
it is still early enough to make a change.
Our data is displayed so that you may explore and compare countries across multiple indicators and
reach your own conclusions. While it is outside the scope of this project to provide social context
for every country, we encourage people to investigate our data and supplement our findings with their
own research.
Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) is a social science data set collected and managed by the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. This research is founded on the concept of democracy as going beyond the mere presence or absence of elections. V-Dem is designed to conceptualize and measure democracy in a multidimensional way. The set contains over 450 indicators that are grouped hierarchically into five high-level indices. Indicators measure topics as diverse as media censorship, judicial independence,socioeconomic inequality, corruption, and hundreds of other aspects affecting democracy. Overall, there are more than 19 million data points. We used version 9 of the Varieties of Democracy dataset.
Data is collected by over 50 social scientists working with more than 3,000 country experts. Each low-level indicator is scored by five experts for each country, whose scores are then averaged and weighted to produce a single value for a single indicator in a single year. These low-level indicators are combined through algorithms to produce mid-level indicators, which in turn are aggregated into the five high-level indicators.
The set covers 202 countries and contains data from 1789 to today, where possible.
Megan is a Design Researcher at Microsoft. She is also taking Human Centered Design classes at the University of Washington.
Samantha is a user experience designer with a focus on inclusive design. She brings curiosity, good humor, and a passion for process to her work in public media.
Portfolio | LinkedInCamila is a Master's student pursuing Human Centered Design Engineering at University of Washington. Her current role at the Boeing Company is Human Factors Engineering in Flight Deck and she aspires to grow her skills in engineering, prototyping and research.
Ellen Reed is a graduate student in University of Washington's Human Centered Design and Engineering program. Her work experience has focused on legal aid, where she has held a variety of program management roles. She is currently developing legal technology for pro bono programs in a company that she co-founded, inForm Legal Tech.
Spencer is graduate student in Human Centered Design and Engineering at the University of Washington, where he's sharpening his design and research skills. A lifelong interest in world history and systems of power led him to this project. He lives in Seattle, awaiting the earthquake that will rewrite the geography of the entire West Coast. He has no cats, but is friends with several.