The Regional Authority Index (RAI) measures the authority in self rule and shared rule exercised by regional governments with 96 countries on an annual basis over the period 1950-2018. The dataset encompasses subnational government levels with an average population of 150,000 or more. Where appropriate, we code more than one regional tier, and code separately regions with a special autonomous statute or asymmetrical arrangements. Regional authority is measured along ten dimensions, five tap self-rule --institutional depth, policy scope, fiscal autonomy, borrowing autonomy, and representation-- and five capture shared rule --law making, executive control, fiscal control, borrowing control, and constitutional reform. The latest version includes metropolitan and indigenous regions alongside conventional regions.

	Annual scores for each region or regional tier in a country (including all tiers)				[data] [codebook]
	Annual scores of regional authority aggregated to the country				[data] [codebook]
	Annual scores for the most authoritative regional tier in a country				[data] [codebook]
	Annual scores for metropolitan governance (individual region or regional tier)				[data] [codebook]
	Annual scores for indigenous governance in 17 countries (individual region or indigenous arrangement)				[data] [codebook]

Citation

Shair-Rosenfield, Sarah, Schakel, Arjan H., Niedzwiecki, Sara, Marks, Gary, Hooghe, Liesbet and Chapman-Osterkatz Sandra (2021) 'Language difference and regional authority,' Regional & Federal Studies 31 (1): 73-97. [doi] [pdf] [appendix]

Hooghe, Liesbet, Marks, Gary, Schakel, Arjan H., Chapman-Osterkatz, Sandra, Niedzwiecki, Sara and Shair-Rosenfield, Sarah (2016) Measuring regional authority. Volume I. A postfunctionalist theory of governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [link] [BOOK] (unofficial version)

Country profiles

A brief history of regional governance in each country, explanation of coding decisions, and sources. Please contact Arjan H. Schakel or Liesbet Hooghe with data queries.

Americas
[Argentina] [Bahamas] [Barbados] [Belize] [Bolivia] [Brazil] [Canada] [Chile] [Colombia] [Costa Rica] [Cuba] [Dominican Republic] [Ecuador] [El Salvador] [Guatemala] [Guyana] [Haiti] [Honduras] [Jamaica] [Mexico] [Nicaragua] [Panama] [Paraguay] [Peru] [Suriname] [Trinidad and Tobago] [United States] [Uruguay] [Venezuela]

Asia
[Bangladesh] [Bhutan] [Brunei] [Cambodia] [China] [India] [Indonesia] [Israel] [Japan] [Laos] [Malaysia] [Mongolia] [Myanmar] [Nepal] [Pakistan] [Philippines] [Russian Federation] [Singapore] [South Korea] [Sri Lanka] [Taiwan] [Thailand] [Timor Leste] [Turkey] [Vietnam]

Oceania
[Australia] [New Zealand] [Papua New Guinea]

Europe (European Union)
[Austria] [Belgium] [Bulgaria] [Croatia] [Cyprus] [Czech Republic] [Denmark] [Estonia] [Finland] [France] [Germany] [Greece] [Hungary] [Ireland] [Italy] [Latvia] [Lithuania] [Luxembourg] [Malta] [Netherlands] [Poland] [Portugal] [Romania] [Slovakia] [Slovenia] [Spain] [Sweden] [United Kingdom]

Europe (other)
[Albania] [Bosnia and Herzegovina] [Iceland] [Israel] [Kosovo] [Montenegro] [North Macedonia] [Norway] [Russian Federation] [Serbia] [Serbia and Montenegro] [Switzerland] [Turkey] [Ukraine] [United Kingdom]

Prior Work

Schakel, Arjan H. (2018) Final report on updating the regional authority index (RAI) for 45 countries (2010-2016). European Commission, Brussels. [pdf]

Hooghe, Liesbet, Marks, Gary and Schakel, Arjan H. (2010) The rise of regional authority: A comparative study of 42 countries. London: Routledge. [link] [BOOK] (unofficial version)

Hooghe, Liesbet, Marks, Gary and Schakel, Arjan H. (2008) 'Regional authority in 42 democracies, 1950-2006: A measure and five hypotheses,' Regional & Federal Studies 18 (2-3): 111-302. [link]