Correlates of War Project Series

collection: series

Studies

8

Variables

395

Publications

478

About this Collection

The Correlates of War (COW) project was founded in 1963 by J. David Singer, a political scientist at the University of Michigan. The original and continuing goal of the project has been the systematic accumulation of scientific knowledge about war. Key principles of the project include a commitment to standard scientific principles of replication, data reliability, documentation, review, and the transparency of data collection procedures.

The COW project seeks to facilitate the collection, dissemination, and use of accurate and reliable quantitative data in international relations (IR). It also seeks to expand available data for IR research through 1) a number of ongoing internal projects and 2) encouraging scholars within the COW community to engage in guided research through the Data Set Hosting Program.

The COW project has moved to institutionalize the loosely structured organization of the original project based at the University of Michigan, while also maintaining the involvement of many collaborators at widely dispersed locations.

To simultaneously maintain a large number of cross-national and cross-time datasets, the COW project has implemented a distributed system of dataset hosting based on the notion of "coordinated decentralization". The goal is for each major dataset to be adopted by a "home" institution and a "host" individual who will agree to maintain a dataset and its related documentation for a period of time, following guidelines designed to ensure continued consistency with COW standards.

The project was transferred from the University of Michigan to The Pennsylvania State University in March 2001. The governance structures of the project include a director, associated director, and advisory board.

Studies

8 results

Intergovernmental Organization Data, 1816-1964

This data collection describes the membership status of 148 nations in 237 inter-governmental organizations (IGO) that were in place between 1815 and 1964. Each nation is coded at five-year intervals for membership type in each listed IGO, such as full or associate membership, as well as for membership or non-membership in the international system.

Correlates of War Project: International Trade Data, 1870-2006

The International Trade (v2.01) data compiled by the Correlates of War Project is the result of the effort to code trade flows between states (as defined by the Project) for the period 1870-2006. The data include information on both bilateral trade flows and total national imports and exports. Four data files are included with this collection: (1) dyadic trade statistics, (2) national trade statistics, and (3) and (4) supplementary information about dyadic and national trade statistics.

Correlates of War Project: Militarized Interstate Dispute (MID) Data, 1816-2001

The Militarized Interstate Dispute (MID) (v3.10) data, compiled by the Correlates of War Project, provides information about conflicts in which one or more states threaten, display, or use force against one or more other states between 1816 and 2001. Five datasets are included with this collection. The first dataset comprises essential attributes of each militarized interstate dispute from January 1, 1816, through December 31, 2001, while the second dataset includes participants in each of these disputes. The third dataset comprises essential elements of each militarized interstate incident from January 1, 1993, through December 31, 2001, including incidents that belong to disputes that began in 1992 and continued into 1993, while the fourth dataset includes participants in each of these incidents. The fifth dataset contains dyadic militarized interstate disputes, of which each dyadic MID has exactly two states involved, on opposite sides of the MID. Generated from the incident-level data, these data are from the years 1993 through 2001, and additionally are provided for MIDs that were ongoing as of December 31, 1992.
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