The Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) is a university-based data collection program on organised violence. The program continuously gathers information on armed conflict and other types of organised violence, which is subsequently published in the annual booklet “States in Armed Conflict” and also available from the program’s database. The program collects both quantitative and qualitative data on organised violence; data which is used both by researchers in the social sciences and by journalists and policymakers
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The UCDP came about during the mid-1980s when it became clear that more systematic and global data on armed conflicts was necessary for the ever-growing academic discipline of peace and conflict research. Initially the program collected data only on so-called “armed conflict”, defined as fighting exceeding 25 battle-related deaths between two actors of which at least one is a state.[1] In later years the data gathering has grown, and the program now also collects data on “non-state conflict” (where no party is the state) and “one-sided violence” (where an organised group attacks unarmed civilians). From a meagre beginning the UCDP’s data is now annually published in such renowned publications as the SIPRI Yearbook and the Journal of Peace Research. In the early 2000s the program also created an online database, where data is available for any user, free of charge.
The UCDP is located at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, at Uppsala University, Sweden. There, the program is led by the Dag Hammarskjöld Professor of Peace and Conflict Research, Peter Wallensteen, and employs approximately 15 research assistants and researchers. A number of scholars and Ph.D. candidates are also attached to the program, tasked with carrying out research on the collected data. In addition to collecting data the program also disseminates its knowledge on the trends and dynamics of armed conflicts to the public, visiting and giving lectures at different venues; ranging from schools to government agencies.
The program’s main focus is on organised violence, i.e. violent fighting between organised groups. Three categories make up the definition of what constitutes organised violence; “state-based conflict”, “non-state conflict” and “one-sided violence”.
State-based conflict refers to what most people intuitively perceive as “war”; fighting either between two states, or between a state and a rebel group that challenges it. The UCDP defines an armed state-based conflict as: “An armed conflict is a contested incompatibility that concerns government and/or territory where the use of armed force between two parties, of which at least one is the government of a state, results in at least 25 battle-related deaths in one calendar year”.[2] The program’s definition differs somewhat from other data collection programs, such as the Correlates of War project , which only counts conflicts where at least 1,000 deaths have been recorded during one calendar year. In UCDP data such an armed conflict is labelled as having the intensity level of “war”, whilst armed conflicts that reap between 25 and 999 battle-related deaths are seen as having the intensity of a “minor” armed conflict.[3]
Non-state conflicts are viewed much like state-based ones, with the exception that in these conflicts none of the warring parties can be a state. Such conflicts are also included if they reach the 25 battle-related deaths threshold. Examples of non-state conflicts are, for instance, the Fatah-Hamas fighting in 2006 and 2007, and clashes between organised ethnic groups [4]
One-sided violence is defined as: “The use of armed force by the government of a state or by a formally organized group against civilians which results in at least 25 deaths in a year”.[5]
Any organised violence that fulfils the above criteria are included in the program’s annual updates.
In 2009 there were 36 state-based armed conflicts active globally according to UCDP criteria (ref). These were:
Europe • Russia (territory: Caucasus Emirate)
Middle East • Iran (government) • Iraq (government) • Israel (territory: Palestine) • Turkey (territory: Kurdistan) • Yemen (government)
Asia • Afghanistan (government) • India (territory: Assam) • India (territory: Bodoland) • India (territory: Kashmir) • India (territory: Manipur) • India (government) • Myanmar (territory: Karen) • Myanmar (territory: Kokang) • Myanmar (territory: Shan) • Pakistan (territory: Baluchistan) • Pakistan (government) • Philippines (territory: Mindanao) • Philippines (government) • Sri Lanka (territory: Eelam) • Thailand (territory: Patani)
Africa • Algeria (government) • Angola (territory: Cabinda) • Central African Republic (government) • Chad (government) • Ethiopia (territory: Ogaden) • Ethiopia (territory: Oromiya) • Mali (territory: Azawad) • Nigeria (government) • Rwanda (government) • Somalia (government) • Sudan (government) • Uganda (government)
Americas • Colombia (government) • Peru (government) • USA (government)
Out of these 36 armed conflicts a total of 6 reached the intensity level of “War”, meaning that more than 1,000 battle-related deaths were recorded in the conflict throughout the year. These armed conflicts were the ones in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Somalia. See the UCDP Database for more information on all of these conflicts.[6]
The UCDP’s homepage is located at http://www.ucdp.uu.se . The UCDP also has an on-line database of organised violence, accessible at http://www.ucdp.uu.se/gpdatabase/search.php. The database provides free information on state-based and non-state conflicts, as well as one-sided violence. It also includes descriptive information on causes and histories of conflicts and one-sided violence and brief descriptions of rebel groups, governments and related items.
As of July 2010 the UCDP Conflict Database is available as an iPhone application.
UCDP data has been published in the SIPRI Yearbook since 1988. Since 1993 a list of all armed conflicts also appears in the acclaimed Journal of Peace Research. Data on non-state conflicts appears in the Human Security Report from 2004. The UCDP also releases (annually) its own report, the States in Armed Conflict publication. UCDP data is also frequently used by journalists, government agencies and other organisations to produce overviews of peace and conflict in the world. One prominent index that uses UCDP data is the Global Peace Index.
The UCDP cooperates mainly with the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO) and the Human Security Report Project, based within the School for International Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The UCDP collaborates with PRIO to create its datasets and provides the Human Security Centre with data for its annual publication, the Human Security Report.