3.16.2011

Social Conflict in Africa Database

The University of Texas at Austin has put together a new dataset to support conflict research in Africa. Some nice features of this dataset are that they code many types of conflict, not just civil wars, and that the conflicts have "issues" associated with them (eg. "democracy" or "environmental degradation"). The database is searchable and downloadable, and the website has some nice discussions of ongoing research projects.
The Social Conflict in Africa Database (SCAD) is designed to provide users with a comprehensive, methodologically rigorous resource for analyzing social conflict events across the African continent, including all countries with a population of more than 1 million.  It compiles events reported by the Associated Press and Agence France Presse from 1990-2009.  SCAD is designed for use by academic researchers, as well as by journalists, non-governmental organizations, policy makers, and others interested in African politics.

Each record in SCAD refers to a unique social conflict event.  To define an event, the researchers determined the principal actor(s) involved, the target(s), as well as the issues at stake.  Events can last a single day or several months.  A conflict is coded as a single event if the actors, targets, and issues are the same and if there is a distinct, continuous series of actions over time.
Some interesting plots from the website:


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