[CSP] Major Episodes of Political Violence (MEPV) and Conflict Regions (v. 2012) (Full Set)

By /

“Center for Systemic Peace, Major Episodes of Political Violence, 1946-2018 (War List),
[A/] Annual Set lists annual, cross-national, time-series data on interstate, societal, and communal warfare magnitude scores (independence, interstate, ethnic, and civil; violence and warfare) for all countries;
[B/] Full Set (1946-2012) includes both country data and scores for neighboring countries and regional context for all independent countries (does not include independence wars).” (https://www.systemicpeace.org/inscrdata.html, 23/09/2023)

MEPVcodebook2018

I/ Conflict variable
I/1/ Unit of conflict

Event (< 0 or 1 death)Conflict (< 25 deaths)War (< 100 deaths)Episode (< 500 deaths)
∅∅∅X
“Major episodes of political violence are defined by the systematic and sustained use of lethal violence by organized groups that result in at least 500 directly-related deaths over the course of the episode.” (codebook, p. 2)

I/2/ Conflict domain

State-based conflictNon-state conflictOne-sided violenceTO BE DETERMINED
∅∅∅X
“Episodes are coded for time span and magnitude and assigned to one of seven categories of armed conflict: international violence (IV), international war (IW), international independence war (IN), civil violence (CV), civil war (CW), ethnic violence (EV), and ethnic war (EW).” (codebook, p. 2)

II/ Time variable
II/1/ Unit of time

DayYear
∅X
“YEAR (4-numeric)
Year” (codebook, p. 1)

II/2/ Time domain

Time domain
1946 – 2012

(MEPV2012ex.xls, 23/08/2022)

III/ Space variable
III/1/ Unit of space

CoordinatesCountryRegionTO BE DETERMINED
∅X∅∅
“COUNTRY (x-alpha)
INSCR standard country name” (codebook, p. 1)

III/2/ Space domain

GlobalMediterranean Sea and SahelTO BE DETERMINED
X∅∅
“REGION (2-numeric)
Code designation for affective geopolitical region, as follows (see addendum):
0….European (East/West) 5….Middle East
1….West Africa 6….South-central Asia
2….North Africa 7….East Asia
3….East Africa 8….South America
4….South Africa 9….Central America” (codebook, p. 6)

IV/ Data structure
IV/1/ Unit of observation

Unit of conflict (UC)UC-yearUC-actorCountry-year
∅∅∅X
Actor-yearDyad-yearOTHERTO BE DETERMINED
∅∅∅∅
“The episode’s ‘magnitude of impact’ score is entered for each year of the designated time span and for each country considered to have been directly affected by the warfare experience. […]
The global system comprises a basically unchanging configuration of territorial units, termed countries or states (i.e., the state system).” (codebook, pp. 2-3)

(MEPV2012ex.xls, 23/08/2022)

IV/2/ Number of observations

Number of observation
9 046

(MEPV2012ex.xls, 23/08/2022)

V/ All variables

Conflict nameConflict typeIntensity
∅XX
OutcomeTimeSpace
∅XX
ActorType of actorDyad
∅∅∅
CoalitionDeathsNon-conflit variables
∅∅∅
“INTVIOL (2-numeric)
Magnitude score of episode(s) of international violence involving that state in that year
involving that state in that year
Scale: 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) for each MEPV; Magnitude scores for multiple MEPV are summed;
0 denotes no episodes
INTWAR (2-numeric)
Magnitude score of episode(s) of international warfare involving that state in that year […]
CIVVIOL (2-numeric)
Magnitude score of episode(s) of civil violence involving that state in that year […]
CIVWAR (2-numeric)
Magnitude score of episode(s) of civil warfare involving that state in that year […]
ETHVIOL (2-numeric)
Magnitude score of episode(s) of ethnic violence involving that state in that year […]
ETHWAR (2-numeric)
Magnitude score of episode(s) of ethnic warfare involving that state in that year […]
INTTOT (2-numeric)
Total summed magnitudes of all interstate MEPV
INTTOT = INTVIOL + INTWAR
CIVTOT (2-numeric)
Total summed magnitudes of all societal MEPV
CIVTOT = CIVVIOL + CIVWAR + ETHVIOL + ETHWAR
ACTOTAL (2-numeric)
Total summed magnitudes of all (societal and interstate) MEPV
ACTOTAL = INTTOT + CIVTOT” (pp. 3-4)
“YEAR (4-numeric)
Year” (codebook, p. 1)
“COUNTRY (x-alpha)
INSCR standard country name” (codebook, p. 1)

Additional variables to “[CSP] Major Episodes of Political Violence (MEPV) and Conflict Regions (Full Set – v. 2016)” :
“Armed Conflict in Neighboring States Variables:
The MEPV scores described above were aggregated on a unit-specific (state) annual scheme. The security of any state is affected not only by its own conflict dynamics and outbreaks of MEPV but, also, by MEPV in immediate proximity (i.e., in neighboring states) and in general proximity (i.e., in the ‘politically-relevant’ regional system). The following set of variables records the number of neighboring states (i.e., states sharing a contiguous land border or water border of two miles width or less) and the general magnitude of MEPV in neighboring countries in a given year. […]
TOTINT (2-numeric)
Sum of all interstate MEPV magnitude scores for all neighboring states
TOTCIV (2-numeric)
Sum of all societal (civil and ethnic) MEPV magnitude scores for all neighboring states
TOTALAC (2-numeric)
Sum of all societal and interstate MEPV magnitude scores for all bordering states
nINT (2-numeric)
Number of bordering states with interstate MEPV
nCIV (2-numeric)
Number of bordering states with societal (civil or ethnic) MEPV
nAC (2-numeric)
Number of bordering states with any type (societal or interstate) MEPV
Regional Armed Conflict Variables:
For this suite of variables, each state was assigned to a Apolitically relevant@ geopolitical region and the MEPV magnitude scores for each state in a designated region were summed to derive a Aregional context@ score for each year; these same regional context scores are then assigned to each state in that region. This is done in order to measure the relative stability/instability of the geopolitically-relevant regional context, or environment, for each state. […]
nREGION (2-numeric)
Number of states in the designated geopolitical region.
REGINT (2-numeric)
Sum of all interstate MEPV magnitude scores for all regional states
REGCIV (2-numeric)
Sum of all societal (civil or ethnic) MEPV magnitude Scores for all regional states
REGAC (2-numeric)
Sum of all MEPV (societal and interstate) magnitude scores for all regional states
nRINT (2-numeric)
Number of regional states with interstate MEPV
nRCIV (2-numeric)
Number of regional states with societal (civil or ethnic) MEPV
nRAC (2-numeric)
Number of regional states with any type (societal or interstate) MEPV” (codebook, pp. 4-6)

VI/ Transparency
VI/1/ Sources

Intergovernmental organizationsGovernmental organizationsNon-governmental organizations
∅∅∅
Research organizationsPress mediaSocial media
∅∅∅
Other databasesOTHERTO BE DETERMINED
∅∅X

VI/2/ Codebook

DateVersion
25/07/2019TO BE DETERMINED
“July 25, 2019” (codebook, p. 1)

MEPVcodebook2018-1

VII/ Update
VII/1/ Current version

DateVersion
2012[2012]

(MEPV2012ex.xls, 23/08/2022)

VII/2/ Regularly updated ?

Real-timeMonthQuarterAnnually
∅∅∅∅
YES, PERIOD TO BE DETERMINEDTO BE DETERMINED
X∅
“Variables in this section were taken from the list of Center for Systemic Peace (CSP) Major Episodes of Political Violence, 1946-2018, URL: www.systemicpeace.org/warlist.htm. That comprehensive list of all types of major armed conflict episodes is a regularly updated version of Appendix C in Monty G. Marshall, Third World War, (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999) and further detailed in Monty G. Marshall, ‘Measuring the Societal Impact of War,’ in F. O. Hampson and D. M. Malone, eds., From Reaction to Prevention (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2002).” (codebook, p. 1)

VIII/ Access
VIII/1/ Registration ?

YESNO
∅X

VIII/2/ Formats

.XLS/.XLSX.CSV.DTA (STATA).RDTA
X∅∅∅

(https://www.systemicpeace.org/inscrdata.html, 23/09/2023)

VIII/3/ API ?

YESNOTO BE DETERMINED
∅∅X