The party or coalition in government today, not the population's views. A country can change color at its next election. Scores run from −3 (governments led by communist or socialist parties) to +3 (the most conservative governments, including religious and nationalist ones). "Strongly" means far from the center of the global spectrum; it is a position, not a judgment.
How a country is governed and where it sits on left–right are different things. Cuba and Iran are both rated authoritarian by the Economist Intelligence Unit, yet sit at opposite ends of the scale. Each profile lists its form of government using the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index categories.
"Liberal democracy" describes free elections and the rule of law, not left or right. On left–right, the US is governed by the Republican Party, which the Global Party Survey (Harvard, 2019) places right of center on both economic and social issues. The same survey places the Democratic Party left of center. The US profile shows both parties' scores.
The terms date to the French National Assembly of 1789, where supporters of the king sat on the right and supporters of change sat on the left. European and Asian politics have used this spectrum far longer than American politics has, and it means something different from everyday US usage. In much of the world, "liberal" means favoring free markets and individual rights, not the US center-left. This map uses the international meaning, so a country's color shows where its government sits in global terms, not in American ones.
Compiled September 2026 from news coverage of recent elections and government changes. Where a fact could not be fully confirmed, the profile says so. Fast-moving situations (coups, wars, snap elections) can date quickly. Profiles follow a written neutrality standard: they describe what governments do, attribute disputed judgments to whoever makes them, and use the same words for left and right.