Government stability, called GOVST in the empirical analysis, measures the government's ability to carry out its policies and to stay in office
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SOCIO quantifies socio-economic pressures at work in society that might restrain government action or elevate social dissatisfaction and thus destabilise the political regime
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INVEST assesses the investment profile, that is, factors related to the risk of investment that are not covered by other (financial and economic) risk components, such as contract viability (expropriation), profits repatriation or payment delays
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ICONFL stands for internal conflict, measuring political violence within the country and its actual or potential impact on governance by focusing on, for instance, civil war, terrorism, political violence or civil disorder
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ECONFL weighs external conflict, namely the risk to the incumbent government from foreign action, ranging from non-violent external pressure, such as diplomatic pressures, withholding aid or trade sanctions, to violent external pressures, ranging from cross-border conflicts to all-out war
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CORR assesses the level of corruption
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MILIT represents the influence of the military in politics, which could signal that the government is unable to function effectively and that, therefore, the country might have an unfavourable environment for business
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RELIG measures religious tensions, stemming from the domination of society and/or governance by a single religious group seeking, for instance, to replace civil by religious law or to exclude other religions from the political and social process
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LAW quantifies law and order, that is, the strength and impartiality of the legal system
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ETHNIC assesses the degree of tensions among ethnic groups attributable to racial, nationality or language divisions
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DEMOC relates to the democratic accountability of the government, that is, the responsiveness of the government to its citizens, but also to fundamental civil liberties and political rights
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BUR stands for the institutional strength and quality of the bureaucracy, which might act as a shock absorber tending to reduce policy revisions if governments change.