# **Table A28:  Political Risk Services International Country Risk Guide (PRS)**

Political Risk Services

**Data Provider** Political Risk Services **Description** Commercial business information provider headquartered in Syracuse, United States **Website** www.prsgroup.com **Data Source** International Country Risk Guide **Type** Expert assessments subject to peer review at the topic and regional levels **Respondents** Political Risk Services staff **Frequency** Monthly since 1984 **Coverage** Global sample of countries **Public Access** Full dataset is commercially available.  Averages of sub-indicators are publicly available in this spreadsheet. **Description** The International Country Risk Guide includes a Political Risk Index, which in turn consists of 12 components measuring various dimensions of the political and business environment facing firms operating in a country.  We use data from December reports of each year.

|**Voice and Accountability**|2007<br>2006|2005|2004|2003|2002|2000|1998|1996|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|_Military in Politics_The m ilitary are not elected by anyone, so their participation in governm ent,<br>either direct or indirect, reduces accountability and therefore represents a risk. The threat of<br>military intervention m ight lead as well to an anticipated potentially inefficient change in policy or<br>even in government. It also works as an indication that the governm ent is unable to function<br>effectively and that the country has an uneasy environm ent for foreign business.|X<br>X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|
|_Democratic Accountability._Quantifies how responsive governm ent is to its people, on the basis<br>that the less response there is the m ore likely is that the government will fall, peacefully or violently.<br>It includes not only if free and fair elections are in place, but also how likely is the governm ent to<br>remain in power or rem ain popular.|X<br>X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|
|**Political Stability and Absence of Violence**|||||||||
|_Government Stability._Measures the government’s ability to carry out its declared program s, and its<br>ability to stay in office. This will depend on issues as: the type of governance, the cohesion of the<br>governm ent and governing party or parties, the closeness of the next election, the government<br>comm and of the legislature, and approval of governm ent policies.|X<br>X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|
|_Internal Conflict._Assess political violence and its influence on governance. Highest scores go to<br>countries with no armed opposition, and where the governm ent does not indulge in arbitrary<br>violence, direct or indirect. Lowest ratings go to civil war torn countries. Intermediate ratings are<br>awarded on the basis of the threats to the government and busines.|X<br>X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|
|_External conflict:_The external conflict m easure is an assessm ent both of the risk to the incum bent<br>governm ent and to inward investm ent. It ranges from trade restrictions and em bargoes, whether<br>im posed by a single country, a group of countries, or the international com munity as a whole,<br>through geopolitical disputes, armed threats, exchanges of fire on borders, border incursions,<br>foreign-supported insurgency, and full-scale warfare.|X<br>X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|
|_Ethnic tensions_: This com ponent m easures the degree of tension within a country attributable to<br>racial, nationality, or language divisions. Lower ratings are given to countries where racial and<br>nationality tensions are high because opposing groups are intolerant and unwilling to com prom ise.<br>Higher ratings are given to countries where tensions are m inim al, even though such differences<br>may still exist.|X<br>X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|
|**Government Effectiveness**<br>_Bureaucratic Quality._M easures institutional strength and quality of the civil service, assess how<br>much strength and expertise bureaucrats have and how able they are to m anage political<br>alternations without drastic interruptions in government services, or policy changes. Good<br>perform ers have som ewhat autonomous bureaucracies, free from political pressures, and an<br>established m echanism for recruitment and training.|X<br>X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|
|**Regulatory Quality**|||||||||
|_Investment Profile._Includes the risk to operations (scored from 0 to 4, increasing in risk); taxation<br>(scored from 0 to 3), repatriation (scored from 0 to 3) and labor costs (scored from 0 to 2). They all<br>look at the government’s attitude towards investm ent.|X<br>X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|
|**Rule of Law**|||||||||
|_Law and Order._The Law sub-com ponent is an assessment of the strength and im partiality of the<br>legal system , while the Order sub-com ponent is an assessm ent of popular observance of the law.|X<br>X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|
|**Control of Corruption**|||||||||
|_Corruption._Measures corruption within the political system, which distorts the econom ic and<br>financial environm ent, reduces the efficiency of governm ent and business by enabling people to<br>assume positions of power through patronage rather than ability, and introduces an inherently<br>instability in the political system .|X<br>X|X|X|X|X|X|X|X|
|**Country Coverage**<br>**Year of publication**|**140**<br>**140**<br>**2007**<br>**2006**|**140**<br>**2005**|**140**<br>**2004**|**140**<br>**2003**|**140**<br>**2002**|**140**<br>**2000**|**140**<br>**1998**|**130**<br>**1996**|

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