About WorldPolis

Every government is running initiatives. We put them on one map.

WorldPolis tracks what national, regional and city governments around the world are proposing, passing and reversing. We read the local-language press, summarise each story in plain English, tag it to one common policy taxonomy and pin it to the place it happened. The globe is free.

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The problem

Policy news stops at the border.

Policy is reported where it happens, in the local language, for a domestic audience. A council vote in Barcelona is covered in Spanish and Catalan. A municipal budget formula in Norway is covered in Norwegian. A planning row in Mexico City is covered for Mexican readers.

The people who could learn most from these decisions rarely see them. Ministries, think tanks and investors follow a handful of countries, mostly in English and mostly at national level. Much of the world's policy experimentation happens out of their sight, in city halls and regional parliaments.

What is different

Built for comparison, not just news.

Local language first: We go to the source in the language it was reported in, then translate it. The stories an English-only reader would never find are the point, not the exception.
Every level of government: City councils, mayors and regions sit beside national governments. Much of the most interesting policy is designed, tested and fought over below national level, so that is where we look.
One taxonomy for every country: Every story is tagged to the same 18 policy areas and more than 80 sub-areas. A rent rule in Spain and a rent rule in Sweden land in the same place, so you can compare them.
Pinned to the real place: City stories sit on the city. National stories sit on the seat of government. You see where a decision is being made, not just which country it is in.
Sourced and corrected in the open: Every story links to its original source. When a later story updates or corrects an earlier one, the newer version replaces it on the globe, and the archive shows what changed.

Who it is for

For anyone who needs to see what is being tried elsewhere.

Policymakers and civil servants: See what peer governments are trying before you design your own: the instrument, the numbers and the fight it caused.
Think tanks and researchers: A running, comparable record of policy change across countries and levels of government, with a source for every entry.
Public affairs and advocacy: Early sight of regulatory moves in the markets you cover, including moves reported only in the local language.
Investors: Regulation moves prices. Changes to rents, planning rules, local taxes and levies often surface first in local sources.
Journalists and engaged citizens: The policy stories your national press is unlikely to cover, each with a link to the original.

How it works

How a story reaches the globe.

1
Scan
We scan national, regional and local government news across Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific, with priority on sources not published in English.
2
Select
We pick stories that are new, consequential and could be applied somewhere else. Selection is editorial, not exhaustive.
3
Summarise
Each story is summarised in plain English, tagged to the taxonomy, pinned to its place and linked to its source.
4
Refresh
The globe shows the last eight weeks. Older stories move to the archive, where nothing is deleted.

123

Stories on the globe

Countries on the globe

129

Stories in the archive

Policy areas tracked

What comes next

The globe is the first layer.

It shows what governments are doing. The next layers will help you compare them. Each of these tools exists today as a working prototype. We will open them as they are ready.

Comparators: How different countries tackle the same problem, side by side, with the evidence behind each approach.
Legislative trackers: Searchable records of bills and their official cost estimates, starting with a decade of German federal legislation.
Briefings: Analysis of what it would take for a policy that worked in one place to work in another.

Work with us

Need more than the globe?

We take on bespoke research and training, and we want to hear from early users.