ABSTRACT
Over the past five years, the number and types of datasets on conflict have grown considerably. Perhaps the most significant development is a “disaggregation revolution,” involving the collection and dissemination of information with greater spatial and temporal detail. This includes continent-wide (e.g., the Armed Conflict Location and Event Dataset, or ACLED) and country-specific datasets (e.g., Nigeria Watch), as well as event-based datasets of various specifications (e.g., Crisis Mappers, Ushahidi). Many datasets begin coverage in the mid-1990s, coinciding with increased digitization of source material. In addition, recent innovations in data collection and management have dramatically reduced the lag between the occurrence of events and the compilation and release of related datasets. The increased availability of geocoded subnational data has opened up innumerable research opportunities, allowing scholars to move beyond state-level analysis to think about local properties of politically important phenomena.
