V-Dem’s New Accountability Index
By: V-Dem Staff
Sep 11, 2017
With the V-Dem Dataset version 7.1, V-Dem released the new Accountability Index and its three subcomponents: Vertical Accountability Index, Horizontal Accountability Index and Diagonal Accountability Index. This week’s graph will look at the Accountability Index across different European regions since 1930.
The Accountability Index measures to what extent the ideal of government accountability is achieved. Accountability is here understood as constraints on the government’s use of political power through for example elections, checks and balances between institutions, and by civil society organizations and media activity.
In the European regions, accountability declined in all regions during World War II. Soon the war accountability recovered to relatively high levels in the Nordic States and Western Europe and have remained stable since. South Europe reached about the same levels during the 1970s while the Balkans and East-Central Europe did not increase significantly until the fall of the Soviet Union.
To explore V-Dem’s new indices on accountability further, use the online analysis tools further visit v-dem.net.
