World Leaders on Twitter - Top10 Rankings

Research Note: World Leader Rankings on Twitter August 2011 B:2 Stability of Government The data set collated by the most recent publication of Polity covers 164 countries currently recognized by the United Nations and spans the time frame from 1800 through 2010. In addition to the creation of a tracking index to measure change in how states are governed, Polity also develops what it calls its State Fragility Index. This index is a yardstick of how stable current regimes are – how entrenched the system of government is. States with high fragility scores are more inclined to change than governments of countries with low fragility scores, indicating that governance around the world is in a constant state of flux. The map below, developed by Polity, shows those countries that are most stable in terms of governance. The map indicates those countries that are most and least stable in 2009. Countries with high fragility scores are more susceptible to change, either peaceful change or revolutionary change, but change nonetheless. Aspects of “fragility” include such elements as factionalism, important policy changes that affect broad segments of the population, autocratic “backsliding,” auto-coups and the collapse of the state government (state failure).