ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of cutting-edge research about peace and conflict. The inventive suggestion is that bargaining theory, quite apart from its standard applications, can be put to good use in explaining spatial patterns of violent conflict. Using data from the Archivo General de la Guerra Civil for the period from January to August 1937, McLauchlin (2014) finds that combatants in Spanish Civil War from the hill country, which is characterized by rough terrain. The recent literature on peacekeeping contributes to a more nuanced understanding of effectiveness of missions, in addition to shedding light on why nations contribute to peacekeeping efforts in the first place. The fact that neither Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) Georeferenced Event Dataset (GED) nor Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) currently offers global coverage has immediate implications for the feasible designs of research, even placing constraints on whether and how countries can be studied in conflict analyses.
