Season's Greetings from the V-Dem Institute
Season's Greetings from the V-Dem Institute with some tips on what to read, listen to, and watch during the holidays, and a heads-up of what’s to come in 2025.
Targeted Call for Country Experts
V-Dem’s data is a mix of observable data (official statistics) and expert coded data. More than 4200 Country Experts have contributed to the V-Dem project over the years, providing detailed, local knowledge from qualified experts familiar with political developments in a given country via our online surveys.
For this coming data collection cycle, we would like a few more applications from experts on a small number of countries and subject areas/surveys.
The US Elections and Democracy: Election Intimidation and Violence
The V-Dem Institute’s Democracy Report 2024 reveals a concerning global trend of declining quality of elections, and the US is no exception. Contrary to the allegations made by Trump and his supporters, the main reason for this worsening is not an increased prevalence of election fraud or irregularities.
The US Elections and Democracy: Polarization and the Quality of Debate
The Presidential elections in the US on November 5 take place in an environment of “toxic” levels of polarization and increasing political violence. The outcome of the election is often framed by both sides as pivotal for the survival of the US democracy. V-Dem indicators provide evidence of a significant worsening of the quality of debate in the US over the past decade.
V-Dem at APSA 2024
V-Dem Institute will take part in the APSA Conference in Philadelphia, September 5-8, 2024. We hope to see many of you there!
Save the Date: Democracy Report 2024 and Dataset Release March 7
The Launch of the V-Dem Institute Democracy Report 2024 and the V-Dem Dataset version 14 will take place on March 7.
V-Dem Part of International Call for a UN Rapporteur on Democracy
A statement released on November 20, calling on the United Nations to appoint a special rapporteur on democracy, has been signed by more than 80 civil society organizations, networks, and research institutions, including V-Dem.
New Job Openings: Postdoc
We invite applications for one or more post-doctoral researchers in Political Science, to conduct research within the V-Dem Institute research programs.
Call for Country Experts
The V-Dem project has a global network of around 4000 Country Experts, who provide crucial information via our online surveys. We are now looking to expand our number of Country Experts.
New Dissertation: Aid Can Contribute to Polarized Views on Democracy
EU democracy assistance is effective in promoting democracy, but in countries that also receive aid from authoritarian donors, support for democracy can decrease. At the same time, citizens are concerned that aid from authoritarian regimes can contribute to corruption and a lack of accountability among local politicians, a dissertation from the University of Gothenburg shows.