How scores work
VIOLOMETER estimates how often each political camp in a country calls for violence or issues threats in public discourse that month. It is not a poll, crime statistic, or official index. Treat it as an experimental scorecard.
Left and right
The two camps are mapped inside that country (Labour vs Conservatives in the UK, reformists vs hardliners in Iran). They are not US parties copied abroad. Scores are 0–100. Quiet months are usually single digits to low teens. Crises, assassination talk, riot incitement, or wartime threats push a side up.
Who is in power
Separate from rhetoric: which of those two camps holds the state (or decisive force) that month. Public mood can sit far from the government — a long gap on the compass.
Public mood vs who governs
Public mood is left–right sentiment and liberty vs order among people, not office-holders. Who governs is the ideology of the people with office or guns. That line moves slowly, except at elections, coups, or martial law. The gap is public minus government.
Field names (data)
LeftScore/RightScore— violent-speech intensity (0–100)PublicSpectrum/PublicAuthority— public left–right and liberty–order (−100…+100)PowerSpectrum/PowerAuthority— who held the state that month