UCDP One-sided Violence Dataset

The UCDP, Uppsala Conflict Data Program, contains information on a large number data on organised violence, armed violence, and peacemaking. There is information from 1946 up to today, and the datasets are updated continuously. The data can be downloaded for free. The UCDP One-side Violence Dataset is an actor-year dataset with information of one-sided violence on civilians by governments and formally organized armed groups, which results in at least 25 deaths. The dataset covering 1989-2013. Purpose: The Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) collects information on a large number of aspects of armed violence since 1946.UCDP, Uppsala Conflict Data Program vid Uppsala universitet, innehåller stora mängder data över organiserat våld, väpnade konflikter och fredsarbete. Idag täcker UCDP´s data över hela världen, från 1946 och framåt, och finns presenterade i 13 olika dataset som kontinuerligt uppdateras. Datan finns tillgänglig för gratis nedladdning och användning via UCDP´s hemsida. UCDP One-side Violence Dataset, baserat på aktör-år, ger information om ensidigt väpnat våld på civilbefolkningen utförda av nationens regering eller annan organiserad grupp, som resulterat i minst 25 döda. Datasetet täcker perioden 1989-2013. Syfte: Syftet för UCDP är att samla olika typer av information om väpnade konflikter från hela världen, från 1946 fram till idag

Raising Rebels : Participation and Recruitment in Civil War

Why do some individuals choose to participate in rebellion, and what recruitment tactics can rebel groups use to affect this decision? These questions are central to the study of civil war because rebel groups must raise troops in order to challenge the government and to survive as an organization. Indeed, much of the civil war literature builds on participation as a key causal mechanism, yet it is rarely specified in theoretical or empirical models. The dissertation attempts to open this black box by tackling three sets of gaps in the existing literature; these relate to the assumptions made in most studies, the theoretical bases for understanding participation and recruitment, and the record of empirical testing. Essay I examines whether a particular type of recruitment practice, ethnic mobilization, is associated with higher levels of violence. The results show that when rebel groups mobilize along ethnic lines, there is a higher risk for intensified violence. Essay II employs new data on rebel troop size to study what factors affect participation in rebellion. The findings indicate that concerns over personal security rather than economic and social incentives best explain participation. Essay III addresses coerced recruitment, positing that conflict dynamics affect whether rebel groups shift from voluntary to coerced recruitment. Using micro-level data on the conflict in Nepal, the results show that the more losses rebels suffer on the battlefield, the greater the number of individuals they subsequently abduct. Finally, the Nepal case study presented in Essay IV suggests that indoctrination as a recruitment strategy was more important to rebel leaders than other facets of the insurgency. Taken together, this dissertation indicates that there is analytical leverage to be had by examining not only the individual’s decision to participate, but also the rebel group’s recruitment strategy, and that these rebel strategies are flexible and contingent on conflict dynamics

A Beginner’s Guide to Conflict Data : Finding and Using the Right Dataset

This paper presents a guide to identifying and using the right conflict dataset. It is composed of two parts: 1) a brief overview of factors researchers might consider when choosing a conflict dataset, and 2) a listing of approximately 60 of the most prominent conflict datasets. The first part of the paper includes a brief description of the historical evolution of conflict data. It then turns to various factors researchers might consider when using conflict data, focusing specifically on needs of the researcher, whether they be policy-related, qualitative research or quantitative research. For each of these categories, there is a discussion on conflict data that are relevant for those users, and substantive recommendations are provided for which dataset to choose. The second part of the paper is divided into two sections: armed conflict dataset and events datasets, both of which contain an alphabetical listing of prominent datasets. For each dataset, a description is provided, as is information on the temporal and spatial domain; the type of event in focus (usually armed conflict or war); how this event is defined; the violence threshold employed for case inclusion; a brief list of data coded; the principal researcher; and how to access the information

Raising Rebels : Participation and Recruitment in Civil War

Why do some individuals choose to participate in rebellion, and what recruitment tactics can rebel groups use to affect this decision? These questions are central to the study of civil war because rebel groups must raise troops in order to challenge the government and to survive as an organization. Indeed, much of the civil war literature builds on participation as a key causal mechanism, yet it is rarely specified in theoretical or empirical models. The dissertation attempts to open this black box by tackling three sets of gaps in the existing literature; these relate to the assumptions made in most studies, the theoretical bases for understanding participation and recruitment, and the record of empirical testing. Essay I examines whether a particular type of recruitment practice, ethnic mobilization, is associated with higher levels of violence. The results show that when rebel groups mobilize along ethnic lines, there is a higher risk for intensified violence. Essay II employs new data on rebel troop size to study what factors affect participation in rebellion. The findings indicate that concerns over personal security rather than economic and social incentives best explain participation. Essay III addresses coerced recruitment, positing that conflict dynamics affect whether rebel groups shift from voluntary to coerced recruitment. Using micro-level data on the conflict in Nepal, the results show that the more losses rebels suffer on the battlefield, the greater the number of individuals they subsequently abduct. Finally, the Nepal case study presented in Essay IV suggests that indoctrination as a recruitment strategy was more important to rebel leaders than other facets of the insurgency. Taken together, this dissertation indicates that there is analytical leverage to be had by examining not only the individual’s decision to participate, but also the rebel group’s recruitment strategy, and that these rebel strategies are flexible and contingent on conflict dynamics

From Armed Conflict to War: Ethnic Mobilization and Conflict Intensification

This article presents a new line of inquiry into ethnicity and armed conflict, asking the question: are conflicts in which rebels mobilize along ethnic lines more likely to see intensified violence than nonethnically mobilized conflicts? The article argues that the ascriptive nature of ethnicity eases the identification of potential rebels and facilitates a rebel group's growth, leading to an increased risk for war. This proposition is empirically tested using a Cox model on all intrastate armed conflicts 1946–2004; the results show that ethnically mobilized armed conflicts have a 92 percent higher risk for intensification to war. In extending the analysis, the study finds that the vast majority of conflicts intensified in the first year, but for every year a low-scale conflict remained active thereafter, the risk of intensification increased, peaking around year 12