Blog - Page 207 of 214

A Review of Libya in 2014

Africa, Analysis, Civilians At Risk, Current Hotspots, Focus On Militias, Governance, Islamist Violence, Remote Violence, Rioting And Protests, Violence Against CiviliansBy James Moody 21 January 2015

Libya was the fourth most active and the sixth most violent country in the ACLED dataset with 2383 reported fatalities from battles and remote violence in 2014. The deterioration of security in Libya throughout 2014 has been characterized by a myriad of factional armed groups with complex competing claims and two divided governments mobilizing competing narratives in the pursuit of ‘political legitimacy’.… Details

Update of ACLED Resources on Boko Haram

Africa, Analysis, Boko Haram, Civilians At Risk, Current Hotspots, Violence Against CiviliansBy Daniel Wigmore-Shepherd 12 January 2015

Boko Haram continues to be one of the most high-profile and lethal conflict actor within the West Africa. The group has developed into a transnational actor and is active in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Niger.… Details

State Policy, Political Opportunity and Phases of Contentious Political Activity in Egypt

Africa, Analysis, Civilians At Risk, Ethnic Militias, Focus On Militias, Political Stability, Pro-Government Militias, Rioting And Protests, Vigilante Militias, Violence Against CiviliansBy James Moody 18 December 2014

A cursory glance at Egypt’s conflict landscape from the beginning of the revolutionary uprising would infer that overall, riots and protests have followed an upward trajectory with increased participation, mobilisation and dissent against the regime (see Figure 1).… Details

Tensions among soldiers in Ivory Coast

Africa, Civilians At Risk, Focus On Militias, Governance, Rioting And Protests, Violence Against CiviliansBy Andrea Carboni 10 December 2014

Contrary to the recent tensions in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast has experienced a period of relative stability in 2014. With the exception of an outbreak of violence in May 2014, when pro-Gbagbo militia fighters stormed the South-western village of Fetai killing three soldiers and ten civilians (Aboa, 2014), overall conflict levels and intensity have remained relatively low throughout much of the year.… Details

Terrorism: A review of differences in definition

Africa, Civilians At Risk, Focus On Militias, Political Stability, Rioting And Protests, Unidentified Armed Groups, Violence Against CiviliansBy Caitriona Dowd 10 December 2014

The existence of multiple, contrasting and even contradictory definitions and conceptualisations of terrorism in policy, legal frameworks and academic research is well-documented. The plethora of competing legal definitions has been likened to the Bermuda Triangle (Dedeoglu, 2003), and attempts to develop consensus around a single one, to ‘the quest for the Holy Grail’ (Levitt, 1986).… Details

Aid and Conflict

Africa, Aid, Inequality, Patronage, ResourcesBy Roudabeh Kishi 3 December 2014

With aid to developing countries at an all time high (OECD, 2014), aid effectiveness – as well as the possible detrimental effects of aid – have been gaining increased attention from both the academic and policy worlds.… Details

A Review of Research Using ACLED in 2014

Africa, Civilians At Risk, Focus On Militias, Political Stability, ResourcesBy Daniel Wigmore-Shepherd 3 December 2014

ACLED exists as an open-source tool to aid research into conflict dynamics and political violence. Certain traits of ACLED make the dataset especially suited to fine-grained micro-level analysis. Below are a selection of research papers published this year which have used ACLED; articles are chosen based on how certain traits of the ACLED enabled the authors to carry out their research.… Details

Familial succession and violence across Africa

Africa, Civilians At Risk, Ethnic Militias, Focus On Militias, Governance, Political Stability, Rioting And Protests, Violence Against CiviliansBy James Moody 3 December 2014

The succession of power in African states has the potential to create destabilising dynamics. Whilst it is conventional in monarchies for the children of the Head of State to succeed their parents in governing their country, this practice is mirrored across some republics.… Details

Tunisia Presidential Elections: a fresh start or “in with the old”?

Africa, Analysis, Elections, Focus On Militias, Political StabilityBy James Moody 26 November 2014

On Sunday, Tunisia observed the first round of presidential elections since the 2011 revolution, with a 62.9% turnout. Despite the Tunisian authorities deploying 80,000 security forces across the country to face anticipated unrest (Al Jazeera, 24 November 2014) the elections were not marred by violence, reflecting their open and inclusive nature.… Details

Urban Bias in Media Reporting

Africa, Elections, Governance, United NationsBy Daniel Wigmore-Shepherd 26 November 2014

ACLED is part of a general trend in social science to use the current benefits of global online media and information to disaggregate and track social phenomena. Through monitoring reports from multiple sources in multiple countries, datasets such as ACLED can move beyond the highly aggregated binary approach of classifying political violence seen in earlier studies and breakdown conflicts into a series of spatially and temporally discrete events (Gleditsch et al.,… Details