Advances in Data on Conflict and Dissent

Abstract

In this chapter, I review the role of data in driving innovation in research on conflict. I argue that progress in conflict research has been strongly related to the growth of systematic empirical data. I draw on a series of examples to show how data have served as a source of theoretical innovation. I discuss early models of conflict distributions and their enduring relevance in current discussion of conflict trends and the evidence for a decline in violence. I consider the interaction between theoretical models of conflict and empirical analysis of interstate conflict, as well as the rapid growth in disaggregated studies of civil war and developments in data innovation, which in turn help generate new research agendas. I conclude with some thoughts on key unresolved problems in current conflict research, namely the lack of attention to incompatibilities as the defining characteristics of conflict and accounting for scale and differences in event size.