The atlas / Countries
Politics, put into practice.
From ancient empires to modern republics. Explore how states and regimes organize power, shape society, and engage with the world.
204 profiles
Twelve dimensions in every profileSearch and filter the whole collection →
- Current states & regions
New Zealand
A Pacific parliamentary monarchy, New Zealand is known for progressive democracy, social welfare, and an open market economy, with strong recognition of Māori culture and the country's bicultural partnership.
- Current states & regions
Nigeria
Africa's most populous country, Nigeria is a federation split between a Muslim north, with sharia in twelve states, and a Christian south, dependent on oil and scarred by Boko Haram, and under Bola Tinubu it cut fuel subsidies.
- Current states & regions
North Korea
A totalitarian single-party state, North Korea maintains a planned economy, international isolation, and a cult of the Kim dynasty, uniting communism, nationalism, and the self-reliance doctrine known as Juche.
- Current states & regions
Norway
A Nordic parliamentary monarchy, Norway combines a broad welfare state, oil wealth managed by a large sovereign fund, and strong social equality, serving as a benchmark of quality of life and social democracy.
- Middle Ages
Old Swiss Confederacy
Medieval alliance of autonomous cantons formed from the 1291 Pact, the Old Swiss Confederacy operated without a strong central power, combining direct democracy in local assemblies (Landsgemeinde), independent peasant militias, and weak joint military/diplomatic coordination among the cantons.
- Middle Ages
Ottoman Empire
A vast Muslim empire, the Ottomans ruled for centuries over lands spanning Europe, Asia, and Africa under the power of the sultan and caliph, uniting religious and political authority with great diversity of peoples and faiths.
- Current states & regions
Pakistan
A parliamentary Islamic republic and nuclear power, Pakistan alternates civilian governments with strong army tutelage, with sharia-inspired laws, a mixed economy dependent on foreign aid, and a permanent rivalry with India.
- Current states & regions
Palestine
Recognized by the UN as an observer state, Palestine is governed by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, with territory split between the occupied West Bank and a Gaza Strip devastated by war, an aid-dependent economy, and elections suspended for two decades.
- Current states & regions
Panama
A unitary presidential republic that abolished its standing armed forces and maintains a dollarized economy centered on the Canal, financial services, the Colón Free Trade Zone, and international trade integration.
- Middle Ages
Papal States
Temporal state of the Papacy, the Papal States united spiritual and political authority under the Pope, applying canon law and clerical government over central Italy for centuries.
- Current states & regions
Paraguay
A unitary presidential republic governed for decades by the Colorado Party, with low taxation, a soy- and beef-exporting economy, major hydroelectric output at Itaipú, and a conservative, largely Catholic society bilingual in Guaraní.
- Current states & regions
Paraná (Brazil)
A southern state with strong agribusiness and European immigrant settlement, Paraná combines a thriving agricultural and industrial economy with a mostly conservative, economically liberal electorate.
- 19th century
Paris Commune
The revolutionary government that held Paris for 72 days in 1871, the Commune established direct democracy with recallable mandates, workers' self-management of workshops, separation of Church and state, and equal pay, becoming a symbol of communal socialism.
- 20th & 21st centuries
Park Chung Hee's South Korea
Under Park Chung Hee, South Korea combined military-authoritarian rule, rigid anti-communism, social discipline, and state planning aimed at export-led industrialization, building the major chaebols and preparing the country's technological rise.
- Current states & regions
Pennsylvania (United States)
An industrial northeastern state and cradle of the Constitution, Pennsylvania is split between Democratic Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and a conservative interior, with shale gas, a union tradition, hunting culture and a state monopoly on wine and spirits.
- 20th & 21st centuries
Peronist Argentina
Under Perón, Argentina experienced a populist, nationalist regime that united strong working-class support, corporatism, industrialization, and the expansion of social rights, leaving a lasting mark on the country's politics.
- Antiquity
Persian Empire (Achaemenid)
Symbolic illustration
The first great universal empire in history, Achaemenid Persia governed dozens of peoples through autonomous satrapies, roads, and tribute, tolerating local languages, laws, and religions under the absolute authority of the King of Kings.
- Current states & regions
Peru
A unitary presidential republic marked by severe political instability and successive presidential removals, with an open economy based on mining, widespread labor informality, and deep inequality between the coast and the Andean and Amazonian regions.
- Current states & regions
Philippines
An archipelagic presidential republic, the Philippines combines a democracy dominated by political dynasties, a strong Catholic identity, and a market economy, with security and anti-crime agendas in the spotlight.
- 20th & 21st centuries
Pinochet's Chile
A military dictatorship born of the 1973 coup, Pinochet's Chile united severe political repression with the pioneering adoption of neoliberal free-market reforms, deeply marking the country's economy and memory.
- Current states & regions
Poland
A parliamentary republic in Eastern Europe, Poland combines democracy, a strong Catholic and nationalist identity, and a growing market economy, with politics marked by tensions between conservatism and liberalism.
- Current states & regions
Portugal
A European semi-presidential republic, Portugal combines consolidated democracy, a market economy integrated into the European Union, a moderate welfare state, low institutional conflict, secularized Catholic heritage, and strong Atlantic openness.
- 20th & 21st centuries
Portugal (Estado Novo)
Under Salazar, the Portuguese Estado Novo was a conservative, corporatist dictatorship that united Catholic nationalism, order, and political control without mass mobilization, holding the country and its colonies for decades.
- Middle Ages
Portuguese Empire
The first and longest-lasting of the European colonial empires (1415–1822), it united absolute monarchy, militant Catholicism, and global thalassocracy, carrying Christian faith, language, and Portuguese administration from the Americas to Africa, India, and Asia.
No profiles found
Try a broader term or choose another filter.