Paths to Power: A New Dataset on the Social Profile of Governments

Jacob Nyrup, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Peter Egge Langsæther and Ina Lyftingsmo Kristiansen

British Journal of Political Science, 2025, vol. 55, -

Abstract: Systematized information on the background of policymakers across long time-periods and all geographical regions of the world remains limited. In this article, we introduce Paths to Power (PtP), a new dataset on the educational, occupational, and social background of cabinet members. PtP contains detailed individual-level data – whenever identifiable – on 44,789 cabinet members across 141 countries in the period 1966-2021. This comprehensive dataset will be of relevance to numerous scholars (and others) interested in understanding politics and recent political history, and it enables a wide variety of new, empirically founded insights. We first present how the data is created and then discuss data quality and limitations. Next, we show how PtP is useful for researchers in diverse fields, including comparative politics, political sociology, gender studies, public administration, and international relations.

Date: 2025
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