A systematic survey of the holders of political power

Who runs the world? And what are the consequences? These are the main questions in the research conducted by Wallenberg Academy Fellow Jacob Nyrup. He has created the world’s biggest database of governing elites, WhoGov, and will now develop it further. The dataset will be easily accessible and available for free.

Around the world, every day, governments make decisions that affect our lives. These decisions are often covered in the media, but we have less systematic knowledge about who really holds global political power.

To obtain a better picture of the world’s governing elite, Jacob Nyrup, associate professor at the University of Oslo, has created a unique database, WhoGov, which contains detailed information about the people in power in 177 countries from 1966 to 2021. He will now further develop WhoGov so the database has more detail and a greater scope. For example, it will cover the period 1849–1966, , it will be updated frequently, and more variables will be added. The dataset will be free and easily accessible on a new online platform.

Once the database has been updated, Nyrup will search for answers to new questions; such as investigating how well the governing elites in various countries represent the countries’ populations and how, in turn, this influences the electorate’s opinions about their political system. He will also examine women’s role in governments, and how political elites in dictatorships can influence autocrats and their decisions to enter conflicts. 

As a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, Jacob Nyrup will work at the University of Gothenburg. 

Photo Patrik Lundin