PITF

Political Instability Task Force

Internal Wars and Failures of Governance,
1955-2006

PITF Problem Set Annual Data

The Political Instability Task Force has compiled annual information on each of four types of political instability events for all countries with a total population of 500,000 or greater, covering the period 1955 to 2006; these events include ethnic wars, revolutionary wars, genocides and politicides, and adverse regime changes (transitions to more open and democratic forms of governance are not considered instability events). Case lists of each of these four event types are recorded in separate Excel spreadsheets. Each annual record for each event includes three measures of magnitude and a composite magnitude score (cases of genocide and politicide have only a single measure of magnitude for each annual record). For purposes of general instability analyses these four event types are consolidated into periods of (complex) instability when distinct instability events overlap in time or occur in sequence. Sequential events are treated as a single episode if less than five years elapsed between the end of one event and the start of the next event.

PITF Problem Set Codebook (Word document)
PITF Consolidated Events List, 1955-2006 (Word document)
Ethnic War Problem Set (Excel file)
Episodes of sustained violent conflict in which national, ethnic, religious or other communal minorities challenge governments to seek major changes in their status. Clashes between rival communal groups are not considered ethnic war unless they involve conflict over state power.
Revolutionary War Problem Set (Excel file)
Episodes of sustained, violent conflict between governments and politically organized challengers that seek to overthrow the central government, to replace its leaders, or to seize power in one region.
Genocide and Politicide Problem Set (Excel file)
Sustained policies by states or their agents--or, in civil wars, by either of the contending authorities--that result in the deaths of a substantial portion of a communal or political group. In genocides, the victimized groups are defined primarily by their communal (i.e., ethno-linguistic or religious) characteristics. In politicides, victims are defined primarily in terms of their political opposition to the regime or dominant groups.
Adverse Regime Change Problem Set (Excel file)
Major, adverse shifts in patterns of governance, including
  • total or near-total collapse of central state authority,
  • revolutionary change in political elites and the mode of governance,
  • contested dissolution of federated states or secession of a substantial area of a state by extrajudicial means; and
  • substantial shifts away from democratic toward authoritarian rule (defined by a six point or greater decrease in Polity score).

Political Instability Task Force



Center for Global Policy

Copyright 2007