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This document provides a brief review of the Correlates of War (CoW) data sets, which are pivotal in the study of international conflict from 1815 to present. CoW categorizes data into various domains, including wars, militarized disputes, national capabilities, military alliances, territorial changes, and international crises. Key definitions include wars with at least 1000 battle deaths and militarized disputes involving threats of force. This overview will assist researchers in understanding how CoW data can inform conflict analysis and theoretical frameworks surrounding state behavior and interactions.
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Correlates of War CoW collected most of the commonly used data sets in the study of international conflict. I want to review them briefly. CoW begins in 1815 and runs until recently. First, the interstate system is defined with recognized states.
CoW Wars • CoW defines wars as mutual uses of force with… • At least 1000 battle deaths • Each participant either committed 1000 troops or suffered 100 battle deaths • Each participant has dates of participation and losses. • Initiators coded as party to first use force • CoW also collected extrasystemic wars and civil wars; neither is used much.
CoW Disputes As a set of possible wars, CoW collected militarized interstate disputes (MIDs). • One side at least threatened to use force. • Threat, display, use of force and CoW war • Initiators and joiners • Highest level of hostility, casualty levels • Outcome of dispute • Irregularity of coverage
CoW Composite Capabilities Three areas of national capabilities: • Demographic (population, urban pop.) • Industrial (iron/steel production, energy consumption) • Military (military personnel, military expenditures) • Typically, world shares of each indicator are averaged to produce national share of world capabilties.
CoW Military Alliances Collection of mutual military commitments: • Defense pacts, nonaggression pacts, and ententes • Dates of formation and termination • Used both as indicator of common interest and independent/dependent variable • Different from common idea of alignment
CoW Territorial Change This data set attempts to collect all changes in territory during CoW time. • Gives time of change, type of change, nature of change, and characteristics of territory
ICB crises International Conflict Behavior (ICB) project collected list of international crises from 1919-on. • Situations with risk of war • Not used as frequently as CoW • Differences with CoW disputes • Range of variables collected
Events Data Events data (COPDAB, WEIS) attempt to collect a denser set of international interactions. • Scales of conflictual and cooperative actions • Typically averaged across years or months • Irregularity of coverage • KEDS automated collection from online services
Other Data Sets • Trade flows • BdM2S2 leader data • ATOP alliance data • BCoW data
Fit with Theory • CoW wars vs. mutual uses of force • Dyadic vs. systemic view of conflict • Capabilities vs. probability of victory • Do CoW alliances capture the commitments in theories? • Treatment of events before and during wars