International conflict and cooperation: Splicing COPDAB and WEIS series

Abstract

The Conflict and Peace Data Bank (COPDAB) data from 1948 to 1978 and the World Events Interaction Survey (WEIS) data since 1966 are the two events data sets that are most widely used. Whether or not the two series are compatible has been much debated in the literature. This article investigates the compatibility between the two series by using several statistical tests and time series analysis methodologies for each of six dyads. For those dyads investigated, COPDAB and WEIS are indeed compatible for the overlapping period between 1966 and 1978. Given the compatibility, a regression method is used to splice the WEIS and COPDAB series to create a long series for conflict and cooperation per dyad from 1948 to 1993.