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Basic Conflict Data Sets. Correlates of War. CoW collected most of the commonly used data sets in the study of international conflict. I want to review them briefly. CoW begins in 1815 and runs until recently. First, the interstate system is defined with recognized states. CoW Wars.
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Correlates of War CoW collected most of the commonly used data sets in the study of international conflict. I want to review them briefly. CoW begins in 1815 and runs until recently. First, the interstate system is defined with recognized states.
CoW Wars • CoW defines wars as mutual uses of force with… • At least 1000 battle deaths • Each participant either committed 1000 troops or suffered 100 battle deaths • Each participant has dates of participation and losses. • Initiators coded as party to first use force • CoW also collected extrasystemic wars and civil wars; neither is used much.
CoW Disputes As a set of possible wars, CoW collected militarized interstate disputes (MIDs). • One side at least threatened to use force. • Threat, display, use of force and CoW war • Initiators and joiners • Highest level of hostility, casualty levels • Outcome of dispute • Irregularity of coverage
CoW Composite Capabilities Three areas of national capabilities: • Demographic (population, urban pop.) • Industrial (iron/steel production, energy consumption) • Military (military personnel, military expenditures) • Typically, world shares of each indicator are averaged to produce national share of world capabilties.
CoW Military Alliances Collection of mutual military commitments: • Defense pacts, nonaggression pacts, and ententes • Dates of formation and termination • Used both as indicator of common interest and independent/dependent variable • Different from common idea of alignment
CoW Territorial Change This data set attempts to collect all changes in territory during CoW time. • Gives time of change, type of change, nature of change, and characteristics of territory
ICB crises International Conflict Behavior (ICB) project collected list of international crises from 1919-on. • Situations with risk of war • Not used as frequently as CoW • Differences with CoW disputes • Range of variables collected
Events Data Events data (COPDAB, WEIS) attempt to collect a denser set of international interactions. • Scales of conflictual and cooperative actions • Typically averaged across years or months • Irregularity of coverage • KEDS automated collection from online services
Other Data Sets • Trade flows • BdM2S2 leader data • ATOP alliance data • BCoW data
Fit with Theory • CoW wars vs. mutual uses of force • Dyadic vs. systemic view of conflict • Capabilities vs. probability of victory • Do CoW alliances capture the commitments in theories? • Treatment of events before and during wars