[UCDP] Georeferenced Event Dataset (GED) (v. 22.1)

By /

“GED 22.1 is a global dataset that covers the world between 1989-01-01 and 2021-12-31.
The purpose of this dataset is to provide the academic community with the most comprehensive structured event data available on organised violence in the post-1989 world, to answer the call for geographically and temporally disaggregated data.” (codebook, p. 3)

2022-08-15_ged221

I/ Conflict variable
I/1/ Unit of conflict

Event (< 0 or 1 death)Conflict (< 25 deaths)War (< 100 deaths)Episode (< 500 deaths)
X∅∅∅
“The basic unit of analysis for the UCDP GED dataset is the “event”, i.e. an individual incident (phenomenon) of lethal violence occurring at a given time and place.
UCDP define an event as: ‘An incident where armed force was used by an organised actor against another organized actor, or against civilians, resulting in at least 1 direct death at a specific location and a specific date’.” (codebook, p. 4)

I/2/ Conflict domain

State-based conflictNon-state conflictOne-sided violenceTO BE DETERMINED
XXX∅
“The dataset includes all three types of UCDP organised violence: state-based conflict, non-state conflict and one-sided violence.” (codebook, p. 6)

II/ Time variable
II/1/ Unit of time

DayYear
X∅
“The maximum (best) temporal resolution of the dataset is the day.” (codebook, p. 4)

II/2/ Time domain

Time domain
01/01/1989 – 31/12/2021
“GED 22.1 is a global dataset that covers the world between 1989-01-01 and 2021-12-31.” (codebook, p. 3)

III/ Space variable
III/1/ Unit of space

CoordinatesCountryRegionTO BE DETERMINED
X∅∅∅
“Data in the UCDP GED is geo-referenced, meaning that each event is connected to a specific location defined by a pair of latitude and longitude coordinates.” (codebook, p. 9)

III/2/ Space domain

GlobalMediterranean Sea and SahelTO BE DETERMINED
X∅∅
“GED 22.1 is a global dataset that covers the world between 1989-01-01 and 2021-12-31.” (codebook, p. 3)

IV/ Data structure
IV/1/ Unit of observation

Unit of conflict (UC)UC-yearUC-actorCountry-year
X∅∅∅
Actor-yearDyad-yearOTHERTO BE DETERMINED
∅∅∅∅
“The event dataset has a dyad and actor focus, tracing the events of all UCDP conflict dyads[…] for both active years (years that have crossed the 25 battle related deaths threshold) and non-active years (the remainder).” (codebook, p. 5)

(GEDEvent_v22_1.xlsx, 12/05/2022)

IV/2/ Number of observations

Number of observation
293 634

(GEDEvent_v22_1.xlsx, 12/05/2022)

V/ All variables

Conflict nameConflict typeIntensity
XX∅
OutcomeTimeSpace
∅XX
ActorType of actorDyad
X∅X
CoalitionDeathsNon-conflit variables
∅X∅
“conflict_new_id
A unique conflict identification code for each individual conflict in the dataset.
[…]
conflict_name
Name of the UCDP conflict to which the event belongs. For non-state conflicts and one-sided violence this is the same as the dyad name.” (codebook, p. 7)
“type_of_violence
Type of UCDP conflict:
1: state-based conflict
2: non-state conflict
3: one-sided violence” (codebook, p. 6)
“date_start
The earliest possible date when the event has taken place. […]
date_end
The last possible date when the event has taken place.” (codebook, p. 10)
“latitude
Latitude (in decimal degrees) [….]
longitude
Longitude (in decimal degrees)” (codebook, p. 9)
“side_a_new_id
A unique ID of side A. […]
side_a
The name of Side A in the dyad. In state-based conflicts always a government. In one-sided violence always the perpetrating party.” (codebook, p. 7)
“dyad_new_id
A unique conflict identification code for each individual dyad in the dataset. […]
dyad_name
Name of the conflict dyad creating the event.
A dyad is the pair of two actors engaged in violence (in the case of one-sided violence, the perpetrator of violence and civilians).” (codebook, p. 7)
“deaths_a
The best estimate of deaths sustained by side a.” (codebook, p. 11)

VI/ Transparency
VI/1/ Sources

Intergovernmental organizationsGovernmental organizationsNon-governmental organizations
XXX
Research organizationsPress mediaSocial media
XX∅
Other databasesOTHERTO BE DETERMINED
∅∅∅
“In terms of sources, UCDP uses Reuters News, Agence France Presse (in English), Associated Press, Xinhua (in English) as well as BBC Monitoring. Note that for some of the years and geographic areas, reporting for some of the sources is extremely limited due to Factiva’s non-inclusion of the whole corpus.” (p. 12)
“Thus, for many conflicts and periods we add secondary sources such as:
* local monitoring of various local media (e.g. Press Trust of India for India, or EFE news agency for Latin America or Radio Okapi for DR. Congo),
* local monitoring and research organizations (such as SATP for India and Pakistan),
* global NGO reports (such as those coming from Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International),
* UN, EU, AU and other IGO reports,
* governmental publications (where considered reliable, such as those from Truth and Reconciliation Commissions),
research articles or books etc.” (codebook, p. 13)

VI/2/ Codebook

DateVersion
202222.1
“When appropriate, also cite this codebook: Högbladh Stina, 2022, “UCDP GED Codebook version 22.1”, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University” (codebook, p. 1)

2022-08-15_ged221-1

VII/ Update
VII/1/ Current version

DateVersion
27/04/202222.1
“The current version of the dataset is 22.1
Data extracted from UCDP systems on 2022-04-27” (codebook, p. 1)

VII/2/ Regularly updated ?

Real-timeMonthQuarterAnnually
∅X∅∅
YES, PERIOD TO BE DETERMINEDTO BE DETERMINED
∅∅
“The UCDP Candidate data includes the same variables as the UCDP GED dataset, the main difference being that UCDP Candidate has a monthly release cycle and UCDP GED is released annually.” ([UCDP] Candidate Events Dataset (GED) (v. 22.0.6), codebook, p. 2)

VIII/ Access
VIII/1/ Registration ?

YESNO
∅X
“All formats are available for download free of charge (no registration required) from the UCDP GED website (http://ucdp.uu.se/ged).” (codebook, p. 25)

VIII/2/ Formats

.XLS/.XLSX.CSV.DTA (STATA).RDTA
XXXX
“Comma Separated Values (CSV), Excel (XLS), R Data Frame (RData), STATA (dta)” (codebook, p. 25)

VIII/3/ API ?

YESNOTO BE DETERMINED
X∅∅
“The UCDP GED versions 5.0, 17.1, 17.2, 18.1, 19.1, 20.1, 21.1 and 22.1 as well as monthly candidate events are also provided as an API service, allowing direct machine-to-machine communication (i.e. you can download the data, as well as filter and subset it on our servers directly from your script, do file, library etc. without downloading it to your own system).” (codebook, p. 25)