International IDEA implemented the State of Democracy assessment in Peru as a pilot study in 2002. The people of Peru had long experience of political crises and the machinations of politicians and generals during the 20th century. After four military dictatorships in recent history, in the late 1990s Peru started a process to divest itself of a manipulative and authoritarian civil government and return to democratic governance.

Democracy in Pakistan has experienced long spells of military dictatorship or a blend of some aspects of democracy with authoritarianism. Democratic institutions have not developed to be fully responsive to the people's needs and aspirations. The poor quality of democracy disappoints people, and often results in the failure or derailment of the whole process. The need to strengthen and improve democracy was greatly felt in 2008 when democracy was restored in Pakistan after nearly a decade of military rule.

The State of Democracy assessment in the Netherlands was instigated by the government after the popular rejection of the EU constitution and two prominent political assassinations in 2005. These events generated political turbulence and a vibrant public debate on the functioning of political institutions and practices in the Netherlands.

As the result of a decade-long civil war that ended in 2005, the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal changed from a monarchy to a multiparty representative democratic republic in 2008. In 2004, International IDEA and the State of Democracy in South Asia/Nepal Chapter carried out a survey on the state of democracy in Nepal. Three years later, they conducted a follow-up survey to gauge changing perceptions of democracy. The 2004 assessment, done at a time of armed conflict and civil war, set a precedent for research to be performed in conflict areas, which had previously been excluded.

In 2012, the Association Marocaine de Solidarité et de Développement (AMSED), with the participation of International IDEA, carried out the State of Local Democracy from a Gender Perspective in Morocco project. This assessment took place in the context of social upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa, which have shaken the foundations of some dictatorial regimes and apparatuses in the region and prompted others to implement political reforms to promote and institutionalize democracy and human rights.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Mongolia has faced the challenge of introducing democratic institutions and procedures to a long-standing traditional society. In 2003, at The Fifth International Conference of New or Restored Democracies, the then-government, along with civil society, decided to conduct a State of Democracy assessment. The study was carried out by three international experts in 2005.

After the electoral reform process following the 2006 presidential elections in the Federal Republic of Mexico, the need for a general democracy assessment grew stronger. The State of Democracy assessment started in 2007 and was conducted by a politically independent team of about 20 researchers from Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana in Mexico City, who used the International IDEA State of Democracy Assessment Framework.

In 2002 a pilot State of Democracy assessment was conducted by Dr Chirwa, Dr Patel and Dr Kanyongolo from the University of Malawi. Since previous surveys had a limited focus and were initiated by external actors, there was a clear need to conduct an all-encompassing democracy assessment that embraced local ownership and community dialogue.

In light of the negotiations on accession to the EU, which strengthened incentives to consolidate democracy and provided the right opportunity for a democracy assessment, a State of Democracy assessment was developed in Latvia in 2005. Its goal was to encourage discussion and research on topics relevant to Latvian development.

Kenya's assessment in 2000—part of a series of pilot studies—was carried out in collaboration with Series for Alternative Research in East Africa by professors Njuguna Ng'ethe, Jeremiah Owiti and Shadrack Nasongo of Nairobi University. It identified social injustice, corruption and impunity as some of the most worrying problems in Kenya's political system.