We highlight how efforts to collect systematic data on conflict have helped foster progress in peace and conflict research. The Journal of Peace Research has played a key role in these developments, and has become a leading outlet for the new wave of disaggregated conflict data. We survey progress in the development of conflict data and how this interacts with theory development and progress in research, drawing specifically on examples from the move towards a greater focus on disaggregation and agency in conflict research. We focus on disaggregation in three specific dimensions, namely the resolution of conflict data, agency in conflict data, and the specific strategies used in conflict, and we also discuss new efforts to study conflict processes beyond the use of violence. We look ahead to new challenges in conflict research and how data developments and the emergence of ‘big data’ push us to think harder about types of conflict, agency, and the ‘right’ level of aggregation for querying data and evaluating specific theories.
AzarEdward E (1980) The conflict and peace databank (COPDAB) project. Journal of Conflict Resolution24(1): 143–152.
2.
BalcellsLaia (2011) Continuation of politics by two means: Direct and indirect violence in civil war. Journal of Conflict Resolution55(3): 397–422.
3.
BennettD ScottStamAllan C (2003) The Behavioral Origins of War. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
4.
BlattmanChristopher (2009) From violence to voting: War and political participation in Uganda. American Political Science Review103(2): 231–247.
5.
BlattmanChristopherMiguelEdward (2010) Civil war. Journal of Economic Literature48(1): 3–57.
6.
BondDouglas G (1986) The nature and meanings of nonviolent direct action: An exploratory study. Journal of Peace Research25(1): 81–89.
7.
BondDouglas G (1994) Nonviolent direct action and the diffusion of power. In: WehrPaulBurgessHeidiBurgessGuy (eds) Justice Without Violence. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 59–80.
8.
BondDougBondJoeOhChurlCraig JenkinsJTaylorCharles Lewis (2003) Integrated data for events analysis (IDEA): An event form typology for automated events data development. Journal of Peace Research40(6): 733–745.
9.
BouldingKenneth E (1963) Conflict and Defense: A General Theory. New York: Harper & Row.
10.
BraithwaiteAlex (2010) MIDLOC: Introducing the Militarized Interstate Dispute Location dataset. Journal of Peace Research47(1): 91–98.
11.
BrecherMichaelWilkenfeldJonathan (1982) Crises in world politics. World Politics34(3): 380–417.
12.
BreckePeter (1999/2012) Violent conflicts 1400 A.D. to the present in different regions of the world. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Peace Science Society, 8–10 October; 2012 version of the data available athttp://www.cgeh.nl/institutions-hub.
13.
BuhaugHalvardGatesScott (2002) The geography of civil war. Journal of Peace Research39(4): 417–433.
14.
BuhaugHalvardLujalaPäivi (2005) Accounting for scale: Measuring geography in quantitative studies of civil war. Political Geography24(4): 399–418.
15.
BuhaugHalvardCedermanLars-ErikRødJan Ketil (2008) Disaggregating ethno-nationalist civil wars: A dyadic test of exclusion theory. International Organization62(3): 531–551.
16.
CareySabineMitchellNeilLoweWill (2013) States, the security sector and the monopoly of violence: A new database on pro-government militias. Journal of Peace Research50(2): 249–258.
17.
CedermanLars-Erik (2003) Modeling the size of wars: From billiard balls to sandpiles. American Political Science Review97(1): 135–150.
18.
CedermanLars-ErikGleditschKristian Skrede (2009) Special issue on ‘Disaggregating civil war’. Journal of Conflict Resolution53(4): 487–495.
19.
CedermanLars-ErikWeidmannNils BGleditschKristian Skrede (2011) Horizontal inequalities and ethnonationalist civil war: A global comparison. American Political Science Review105(3): 478–495.
20.
CedermanLars-ErikWimmerAndreasMinBrian (2010) Why do ethnic groups rebel? New data and analysis. World Politics62(1): 87–119.
21.
ChenowethEricaLewisOrion A (2013) Unpacking nonviolent campaigns: Introducing the NAVCO 2.0 dataset. Journal of Peace Research50(4): 415–423.
22.
ChenowethEricaStephanMaria J (2011) Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. New York: Columbia University Press.
23.
ChiozzaGiacomoGoemansHein E (2004a) International conflict and the tenure of leaders: Is war still ex post inefficient?American Journal of Political Science48(3): 604–619.
24.
ChiozzaGiacomoGoemansHein E (2004b) Avoiding diversionary targets. Journal of Peace Research41(4): 423–443.
25.
ClausetAaronCedermanLars-ErikGleditschKristian Skrede (2012) The distribution and dynamics of war sizes. Paper presented to the German Physics Society, focus session on ‘Models of war and conflict’, Berlin, 25–30 March.
26.
ClausetAaronHegerLindsayYoungMaxwellGleditschKristian Skrede (2010) The strategic calculus of terrorism: Substitution and competition in the Israel–Palestine conflict. Cooperation and Conflict45(1): 6–33.
27.
CollierPaulHoefflerAnke (2004) Greed and grievance in civil war. Oxford Economic Papers56(4): 663–595.
28.
CollierPaulHoefflerAnkeRohnerDominic (2009) Beyond greed and grievance: Feasibility and civil war. Oxford Economic Papers61(1): 1–27.
29.
ConradCourtenay RHaglundJillienneMooreWill H (2013) Disaggregating torture allegations: Introducing the ill-treatment and torture (ITT) country-year data. International Studies Perspectives14(2): 199–220.
30.
CunninghamDavid EGleditschKristian SkredeSalehyanIdean (2009) It takes two: A dyadic analysis of civil war duration and outcome. Journal of Conflict Resolution53(4): 570–597.
31.
DavenportChristian (2010) Media Bias, Perspective and State Repression: The Black Panther Party. New York: Cambridge University Press.
32.
DeRouenKarlBercovitchJacobPospiesznaPaulina (2011) Introducing the Civil Wars Mediation (CWM) dataset. Journal of Peace Research48(5): 663–672.
33.
DeutschKarl W (1970) Quincy Wright’s contribution to the study of war. Journal of Conflict Resolution14(4): 473–478.
34.
DulićTomislav (2004) Tito’s slaughterhouse: A critical analysis of Rummel’s work on democide. Journal of Peace Research41(1): 85–102.
35.
EckKristineHultmanLisa (2007) One-sided violence against civilians in war: Insights from new fatality data. Journal of Peace Research44(2): 233–246.
36.
FearonJames D (1994) Domestic political audiences and the escalation of disputes. American Political Science Review88(43): 577–592.
37.
FearonJames D (1995) Rationalist explanations for war. International Organization49(3): 379–414.
38.
FearonJames DLaitinDavid D (2003) Ethnicity, insurgency, and civil war. American Political Science Review97(1): 75–90.
39.
FindleyMichael GYoungJoseph K (2012) Terrorism and civil war: A spatial and temporal approach to a conceptual problem. Perspectives on Politics10(2): 285–305.
40.
FjeldeHanne (2010) Generals, dictators and kings: Authoritarian regimes and civil conflict, 1973–2004. Conflict Management and Peace Science27(3): 195–218.
41.
GaltungJohan (1965) Institutionalized conflict resolution: A theoretical paradigm. Journal of Peace Research2(4): 348–397.
42.
GatAzar (2008) War in Human Civilization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
43.
GhosnFatenPalmerGlennBremerStuart (2004) The MID3 data set, 1993–2001: Procedures, coding rules, and description. Conflict Management and Peace Science21(2): 133–154.
44.
GiblerDouglas MSarkeesMeredith R (2004) Measuring alliances: The Correlates of War formal interstate alliance dataset, 1816–2000. Journal of Peace Research41(2): 211–222.
45.
GleditschKristian Skrede (2002) All International Politics Is Local: The Diffusion of Conflict, Integration, and Democratization. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
46.
GleditschKristian Skrede (2004) A revised list of wars between and within independent states, 1816–2002. International Interactions30(4): 231–262.
47.
GleditschKristian SkredePickeringSteve (forthcoming) Wars are becoming less frequent: A reply to Harrison and Wolf. Economic History Review, in press.
48.
GleditschKristian SkredeWeidmannNils B (2012) Richardson in the information age: GIS and spatial data in international studies. Annual Review of Political Science15: 461–481.
49.
GleditschKristian SkredeSalehyanIdeanSchultzKenneth (2008) Fighting at home, fighting abroad: How civil wars lead to interstate disputes. Journal of Conflict Resolution52(4): 479–506.
50.
GleditschNils PetterWallensteenPeterErikssonMikaelSollenbergMargaretaStrandHåvard (2002) Armed conflict 1946–2001: A new dataset. Journal of Peace Research39(5): 615–637.
51.
GochmanCharles SMaozZeev (1984) Militarized interstate disputes, 1816–1976: Procedures, patterns, and insights. Journal of Conflict Resolution28(4): 585–616.
52.
GoemansHein EGleditschKristian SkredeChiozzaGiacomo (2009) Introducing Archigos: A dataset of political leaders. Journal of Peace Research46(2): 269–283.
53.
GoldsteinJoshua S (2011) Winning the War on War: The Decline of Armed Conflict Worldwide. Hialeah, FL: Dutton/Penguin.
54.
GoldthorpeJohn H (1991) The uses of history in sociology: Reflections on some recent tendencies. British Journal of Sociology42(2): 211–230.
55.
GurrTed Robert (1993) Minorities at Risk: A Global View of Ethnopolitical Conflict. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press.
56.
HallbergJohan Dittrich (2012) PRIO conflict site 1989–2008: A geo-referenced dataset on armed conflict. Conflict Management and Peace Science29(2): 219–232.
57.
HarbomLottaMelanderErikWallensteenPeter (2008) Dyadic dimensions of armed conflict, 1946–2007. Journal of Peace Research45(5): 697–719.
58.
HarrisonMarkWolfNikolaus (2012) The frequency of wars. Economic History Review65(3): 1055–1076.
59.
HermannMargaret G, ed. (1977) A Psychological Examination of Political Leaders. New York: Free Press.
60.
HermannMargaret G (1980) Explaining foreign policy behavior using the personal characteristics of political leaders. International Studies Quarterly24(1): 7–46.
61.
JaggersKeithGurrTed R (1995) Tracking democracy’s third wave with the Polity III data. Journal of Peace Research32(4): 469–482.
62.
JervenMorten (2013) Poor Numbers: How We Are Misled by African Development Statistics and What To Do About It. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
63.
JervisRobert (1976) Cumulation, correlation, woozles. In: RosenauJames N (ed.) In Search of Global Patterns. New York: Free Press, 181–185.
KingGaryLoweWill (2003) An automated information extraction tool for international conflict data with performance as good as human coders: A rare events evaluation design. International Organization57(3): 617–642.
66.
KingGaryKeohaneRobert OVerbaSidney (1994) Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
67.
KreutzJoakim (2010) How and when armed conflicts end: Introducing the UCDP conflict termination dataset. Journal of Peace Research47(2): 243–250.
68.
LacinaBethany AnnGleditschNils PetterRussettBruce M (2006) The declining risk of death in battle. International Studies Quarterly50(3): 673–680.
69.
LeetaruKalevSchrodtPhilip A (2013) GDELT: Global data on events, location, and tone, 1979–2012. Presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, San Francisco, CA, 3–6 April (http://gdelt.utdallas.edu/data/documentation/ISA.2013.GDELT.pdf).
70.
LevyJack (1983) War in the Modern Great Power System, 1495–1975. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press.
71.
LichbachMark I (1987) Deterrence or escalation? The puzzle of aggregate studies of repression and dissent. Journal of Conflict Resolution31(2): 266–297.
72.
LiebersonStanley (1992) Einstein, Renoir, and Greeley: Some thoughts about evidence in sociology. American Sociological Review57(1): 1–15.
73.
LyallJason (2010) Are coethnics more effective counterinsurgents? Evidence from the second Chechen war. American Political Science Review104(1): 1–20.
74.
MartinBrian (1989) Gene Sharp’s theory of power. Journal of Peace Research26(2): 213–222.
75.
MartinBrianVarneyWendy (2003) Nonviolence and communication. Journal of Peace Research40(2): 213–232.
76.
McClellandCharles A (1983) Let the user beware. International Studies Quarterly27(2): 169–177.
77.
McGowanPatStarrHarveyHowerGretchenMerrittRichardZinnesDina (1988) International data as a national resource. International Interactions14(2): 101–113.
78.
MetternichNils W (2011) Expecting elections: Interventions, ethnic support, and the duration of civil wars. Journal of Conflict Resolution55(6): 909–937.
79.
MetternichNils WDorffCassyGallopMaxWeschleSimonWardMichael D (2013) Anti-government networks in civil conflicts: How network structures affect conflictual behavior. American Journal of Political Science, forthcoming.
80.
MooreWill H (1998) Repression and dissent: Substitution, context and timing. American Journal of Political Science42(3): 851–873.
81.
MorrowJames D (2000) The ongoing game-theoretic revolution. In: MidlarskyManus I (ed.) Handbook of War Studies II. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 164–192.
82.
NepstadSharon Erickson (2011) Nonviolent Revolutions: Civil Resistance in the Late 20th Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
83.
OnealJohn ROnealFrancesMaozZeevRussettBruce M (1996) The liberal peace: Democracy, interdependence, and conflict, 1950–1985. Journal of Peace Research33(1): 11–28.
84.
ØstbyGudrun (2008) Polarization, horizontal inequalities and violent civil conflict. Journal of Peace Research45(2): 143–162.
85.
PayneJames L (2004) A History of Force: Exploring the Worldwide Movement Against Habits of Coercion, Bloodshed, and Mayhem. Sandpoint, IN: Lytton.
86.
PinkerSteven (2011) The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. New York: Viking.
87.
PoolIthiel de Sola (1965) The Kaiser, the Tsar, and the computer: Information processing in a crisis. American Behavioral Scientist8(9): 31–39.
RaleighClionadhLinkeAndrewHegreHåvardKarlsenJoakim (2010) Introducing ACLED: An Armed Conflict Location and Event dataset. Journal of Peace Research47(5): 651–660.
90.
ReganPatrick MNortonDaniel (2005) Greed, grievance, and mobilization in civil wars. Journal of Conflict Resolution49(3): 319–336.
91.
RestrepoJorge ASpagatMichaelVargasJuan F (2006) The severity of the Colombian conflict: Cross-country datasets versus new micro-data. Journal of Peace Research43(1): 99–115.
92.
RichardsonLewis F (1948) Variation of the frequency of fatal quarrels with magnitude. Journal of the American Statistical Association43(244): 523–546.
93.
RichardsonLewis F (1960a) Statistics of Deadly Quarrels. Chicago, IL & Pittsburgh, PA: Quadrangle/Boxwood.
94.
RichardsonLewis F (1960b) Arms and Insecurity. Pittsburgh, PA: Boxwood.
95.
RuggeriAndreaGizelisTheodora-IsmeneDorussenHan (2011) Events data as Bismarck’s sausages? Intercoder reliability, coders’ selection, and data quality. International Interactions37(1): 340–361.
96.
RummelRudolph J (1985) Libertarian propositions on violence within and between nations. Journal of Conflict Resolution29(3): 419–455.
97.
RummelRudolph J (1995) Death by Government. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
98.
RummelRudolph J (2004) One-thirteenth of a data point does not a generalization make: A response to Dulić. Journal of Peace Research41(1): 103–104.
99.
SalehyanIdean (2009) Rebels Without Borders: State Boundaries, Transnational Opposition, and Civil Conflict. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
100.
SalehyanIdean (2010) The delegation of war to rebel organizations. Journal of Conflict Resolution54(3): 493–515.
101.
SalehyanIdeanHendrixCullen SCaseChristinaLinebargerChristopherStullEmilyWilliamsJennifer (2012) The social conflict in Africa database: New data and applications. International Interactions 38(4): 503–511.
102.
SandlerTodd (2011) New frontiers of terrorism research. Journal of Peace Research48(3): 279–286.
103.
SchockKurt (2005) Unarmed Insurrections: People Power Movements in Nondemocracies. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
104.
SchrodtPhilip A (2012) Precedents, progress, and prospects in political event data. International Interactions38(4): 546–569.
105.
SchrodtPhilip A (2014) Seven deadly sins of contemporary quantitative political analysis. Journal of Peace Research. 51(2): xx–xx.
106.
SchrodtPhilip AYilmazÖmürGernerDeborah JHermreckDennis (2008) The CAMEO (conflict and mediation event observations) actor coding framework. Paper presented at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, San Francisco, 26–29 March.
107.
SchultzKenneth A (1999) Do democratic institutions constrain or inform? Contrasting two institutional perspectives on democracy and war. International Organization52: 233–266.
108.
SharpGene (1973) The Politics of Nonviolent Action. Boston, MA: Porter Sargent.
109.
SingerJ David, ed. (1980) The Correlates of War II: Testing Some Realpolitik Models. New York: Free Press.
110.
SingerJ DavidSmallMelvin (1972) The Wages of War, 1816–1965: A Statistical Handbook. New York: Wiley.
111.
SingerJ DavidBremerStuartStuckeyJohn (1972) Capability distribution, uncertainty, and major power war. In: RussettBruce M (ed.) Peace, War, and Numbers. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 19–48.
112.
SmallMelvinDavid SingerJ (1982) Resort to Arms: International and Civil Wars, 1816–1980. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
113.
SorokinPitirim A (1957) Social and Cultural Dynamics. London: Owen.
114.
StedmanStephen John (1997) Spoiler problems in peace processes. International Security22(2): 5–53.
115.
SvenssonIsakLindgrenMathilda (2011) Community and consent? Exploring unarmed insurgencies in non-democracies. European Journal of International Relations17(1): 97–120.
116.
TollefsenAndreas ForøStrandHåvardBuhaugHalvard (2012) PRIO-GRID: A unified spatial data structure. Journal of Peace Research49(2): 363–374.
117.
ValentinoBenjaminHuthPaulBalch-LindsayDylan (2004) ‘Draining the sea’: Mass killing and guerrilla warfare. International Organization58(2): 375–407.
118.
VanhanenTatu (2000) A new dataset for measuring democracy, 1810–1998. Journal of Peace Research37(2): 251–265.
119.
VerwimpPhilipJustinoPatriciaBrückTilman (2009) The analysis of conflict: A micro-level perspective. Journal of Peace Research46(3): 307–314.
120.
WallensteenPeterAxellKaren (1993) Armed conflict at the end of the Cold War, 1989–1992. Journal of Peace Research30(3): 331–346.
121.
WardMichael DGreenhillBrian DBakkeKristin M (2010) The perils of policy by p-value: Predicting civil conflict. Journal of Peace Research45(5): 363–375.
122.
WeeksJessica L (2012) Strongmen and straw men: Authoritarian regimes and the initiation of international conflict. American Political Science Review106(2): 326–347.
123.
WeidmannNils B (2011) Violence ‘from above’ or ‘from below’? The role of ethnicity in Bosnia’s civil war. Journal of Politics73(4): 1178–1190.
124.
WilkenfeldJonathan (1968) Domestic and foreign conflict behavior of nations. Journal of Peace Research5(1): 56–69.
125.
WimmerAndreas (2002) Nationalist Exclusion and Ethnic Conflicts: Shadows of Modernity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
126.
WoodReed (2010) Rebel capability and strategic violence against civilians. Journal of Peace Research47(5): 601–614.
127.
WrightQuincy (1942/1965) A Study of War. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
