Working Paper: Updates to ACLED

Since its original introduction as a small-scale academic project in 2010 covering political violence in Africa (Raleigh et. al, 2010), the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) has evolved into an independent NGO with a global team of researchers collecting real-time data on political violence and demonstrations across the world. By mid-2020, nearly one million events were collected in the ACLED dataset for public use, complemented by a range of analytical reports and methodological advancements. Over the past 10 years, a number of significant changes have enhanced the flexibility, timeliness, and reliability of ACLED data. The changes adopted have advanced the project’s scope, deepened its engagement with researchers, and expanded its sources and quality of information. This special data feature reviews these changes and explains why ACLED has evolved in a distinct way compared to other conflict data projects. As a result of this evolution, the ACLED dataset has come closer to comprehensively and accurately representing the ground reality of global disorder than ever before, making it a key source for academics as well as policymakers, practitioners, and journalists around the world.

New Developments in ACLED Coverage

In 2020, ACLED is nearly global in its coverage. ACLED’s geographic expansions have required extensive reflection on how to compare conflicts occurring in different spaces and times; what is ‘political’ violence; and how sourcing and reporting can emphasize or obscure local patterns...

Conclusion

Using event data has transformed conflict analysis: information on the range of conflict forms and actors has overturned typical explanations and expected modalities of political violence across the world...

References

ACLED (2020a) FAQs: ACLED Sourcing Methodology. ACLED. (https://www.acleddata.com/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2019/10/FAQs_ACLED-Sourcing-Methodology.pdf).

ACLED (2020b) ACLED Codebook...