Data Sources for Conflict Analysis

I have come across three excellent starting points for those looking for armed conflict-related data:

“A Beginner's Guide to Conflict Data: Finding and Using the Right Dataset" by Kristine Eck was published by the Uppsala Conflict Research Program and is a goldmine for anyone looking for conflict-related data. The first part of the paper gives an overview of factors to consider in data research, and the second part is a list of 60 conflict datasets with descriptions, source/accessing information, and sorted by armed conflicts and events.  

The Correlates of War Project (or COW) was established with the goal of “the systematic accumulation of scientific knowledge about war.” The COW database includes wars from 1816 to 2007. COW defines international war as “a conflict waged between (or among) national entities, at least one of which is a state, which results in at least 1000 battle deaths of military personnel.” The project also features data sets of World Religions, Alliances, Trade, Diplomatic Exchange, Intra- and Inter-state war. Under the “Related Data” tab, the project links to many other potentially useful data sets.

The Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) collaborated with the Center for the Study of Civil War (CSCW) to create the UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset, which differs from the COW project in that it defines a conflict based on 25 or more battle deaths. This data set includes conflicts from 1946-2013. Notable other data sets include a Geo-referenced Conflict Site dataset, and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, which codes exact locations, dates, and additional characteristics of individual battle events in states affected with civil war.