Quantifying International Conflicts Data on War or Data for War

Based on the Datawar research program developed by three French academic institutions, this book seeks to explore the following research question: how do social practices of data collection and analysis in quantitative conflict studies influence researchers’ and practitioners’ representations of armed conflict? The editors and authors investigate both scientific practices in the field of quantitative conflict studies and the impact of these practices on practitioners’ vision of war, covering the full lifecycle of quantitative conflict data, from collection and analysis to their use and dissemination by military and diplomatic institutions, humanitarian organizations, and the media.

.- Chapter 1. Introduction: developing a comparative approach to understand the impact of quantitative data on the perception and management of armed conflict.- Part 1: Academic practices of conflict data collection and analysis .- Chapter 2. Mind over Materiel: Peace Research, Conflict Data, and the Politics of Quantification (Gray Anderson).- Chapter 3. Positivist misrecognition and conflict alarmism. The case of the Thucydides trap (Thomas Lindemann).- Part 2: Practitioner perceptions and use patterns.- Chapter 4. French Disconnection: Armed Conflict Databases usages in Diplomacy and Defense (Louise Beaumais & Frédéric Ramel).- Chapter 5. Navigating the Administrative Landscape of Conflict Early Warning Systems: From Managerial Optimism to Bureaucratic Realities (Louise Beaumais).- Chapter 6. Caught Between Will and Ability: Exploring the Use of Numbers in Media Coverage of Armed Conflict (Iris Lambert).- Chapter 7. Different jobs, similar problems: Exploring the effects of the self-sustaining (mis)uses of quantitative data on armed conflict by humanitarian workers and journalists (Louise Beaumais & Iris Lambert).- Part 3: Dissemination challenges and lessons .- Chapter 8. How to teach data awareness? Five pedagogic principles based on the lessons of the DATAWAR dissemination activities (Éric Sangar & Sami Makki).- Chapter 9. Holding Corporations Accountable? Data Awareness and Public Scrutiny in Endangered Democratic Settings (Sami Makki).- Chapter 10. (Femke Mulder).- Chapter 11. Conclusion (Ned Lebow).

Louise Beaumais is at Sciences Po/CERI and is Member of the Datawar research project Po Paris, France.

Iris Lambert is at Sciences Po Paris and CERI, Paris, France.

Thomas Lindemann is Professor of Political Science at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin, France, and of International Relations at the Ecole Polytechnique, France.

Sami Makki is Associate Professor in Political Science at Sciences Po Lille, France.

Frédéric Ramel is Full Professor of Political Science at Sciences Po Paris, France.

Eric Sangar is Assistant Professor in Political Science at Sciences Po Lille, France.