Country codes

This page lists all 2XX "countries" included in WeSIS and their numeric codes. Defining a country, political unit or a state member of the international system is challenging. In order to ensure cross-comparability to other major data collections in the social sciences, we rely on the Corrrelates of War project (COW) complemented by the V-Dem project (V-Dem).

Definition and Discussion

COW and V-Dem show a huge overlap in defining entities. For COW, an entity must have "a resonable degree of autonomy". For V-Dem, an entity must be an "effective governance unit". Further criteria apply e.g. population size, diplomatic missions, or continuity with a contemporary nation-state.

Disclaimer: The inclusion of an entity in WeSIS is based on scientific and analytical grounds. This precludes any judgments about which territories qualify as countries. For this reason, recognizing entities in WeSIS should not be interpreted as judgments about sovereign claims to disputed territories.

Sources

• Coppedge, Michael, John Gerring, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Staffan I. Lindberg, Svend-Erik Skaaning, Jan Teorell, Vlad Ciobanu, and Moa Olin. 2018. ”V-Dem Country Coding Units v8” Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project.
• Correlates of War Project. 2016. “State System Membership List, v2016.”