African Social Conflict Database Introduced by Strauss Center's CCAPS Program

AUSTIN, Texas — A  database and Web site tool that tracks social conflict in Africa has been created by the Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS) program at the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law. The Social Conflict in Africa Database (SCAD) provides information that has never been tracked before on more than 6,300 social conflict events across Africa, including strikes, riots, protests, coups and communal violence from 1990 and 2009. Cullen Hendrix and Idean Salehyan, assistant professors of political science at the University of North Texas and members of the CCAPS research team, created the database. Previous datasets have collected information on civil and interstate conflict in Africa, but none have systematically looked at these other forms of unrest. "Conventional datasets on civil and international war were missing a lot of significant events, whether it was electoral violence in Kenya or protests for independence in southern Sudan or the current crises in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia," Salehyan said. "SCAD provides an important new tool for analyzing conflict patterns and intervention strategies in Africa," said Ashley Moran, CCAPS program manager. "In responding to issues like climate change, building resilience is dependent on a firm understanding of how environmental stressors, conflict and governance intersect.