This recognized democracy as the only legitimate form of government in the Western Hemisphere, and the OAS and Tinker Foundation funded the creation of the PDBA to promote this mission.

To achieve this objective, it collects, organises, exchanges and disseminates information, data, statistics on institutions from a political perspective, comparative studies; and other resources relevant to 35 American countries.

[2] In 2010, new investment in the project ceased and the PDBA was decommissioned, leaving a vacuum for scholars and others interested in Latin American political institutions.

[1] The SIGLA project gathers, archives, and disseminates systematic information on legal and political institutions in Latin America.

As this information is freely available to users across the Americas and around the world, SIGLA democratizes access to comparable data about governance in the region.