Common questions about the International Sovereignty Index.
The ISI measures the concentration of external suppliers across strategic axes (financial, energy, technology, defense, critical inputs, logistics). The inaugural release covers the EU-27 as the founding cohort. It uses a Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) framework where 0 = perfectly diversified and 1 = total concentration on a single source.
Not necessarily. A high score indicates high concentration — meaning the country sources heavily from a small number of external suppliers. Whether that is problematic depends on context: concentration on a stable allied supplier is structurally different from concentration on an adversarial source. The ISI does not make that distinction.
The ISI composite is an unweighted arithmetic mean of all available axis scores for each country. No domain-weighting is applied. This means each axis contributes equally to the composite, regardless of strategic importance.
Data availability varies by axis and country. If a score shows as '—', it means the backend could not materialize a score for that combination. The composite is then computed over available axes only.
Classifications follow standard HHI bands: ≥ 0.50 (Highly Concentrated), 0.25–0.49 (Moderately Concentrated), 0.15–0.24 (Mildly Concentrated), < 0.15 (Unconcentrated). These are descriptive labels, not risk assessments.
All scores and classifications are computed server-side from documented data sources. The interface displays published outputs without transformation. Rank and deviation indicators shown in the UI are derived from the backend-provided score set.
The reference window is stated on every page (e.g., in the version/window labels). The data is a snapshot from that period and does not auto-update.
Yes, but with caution. Each axis measures concentration in a different domain using potentially different data sources and methodologies. A score of 0.30 in Financial does not mean the same thing as 0.30 in Defense. Always check the axis detail page for context.
Each axis uses one or more data channels (e.g., Eurostat trade data, IEA energy data). The specific sources are documented on each axis detail page under 'Data Sources & Channels'.
If you believe a score is incorrect, the issue is in the backend data pipeline, not in the frontend. Please report it via email at contact@internationalsovereignty.org.