Open Data

GovConReD — Government–Constituency Relations Dataset

GovConReD is the first open-access, comprehensive, and dynamic dataset on government–constituency relations in conflict settings. It documents both attractive strategies (reforms, concessions, privileges, exemptions) and repressive strategies (curfews, forced displacement, travel bans, and more) that governments direct at the constituencies of non-state armed actors.

The dataset builds on more than 9,000 manually coded events drawn from over 1.2 million news articles (1995–2020), extended with machine learning and computational social science tools to reach its full scope.

Data coming soon
50YEARS COVERED (1980–2030)
120COUNTRIES
350ARMED GROUPS
9,000+EVENTS CODED SO FAR
What's in the Dataset
Coverage & Coding

For every recorded event, GovConReD codes a common set of features so that attractive and repressive measures can be compared on equal terms:

  • Initiator features — which government body or official announced the measure, and at what level of seniority.
  • Type — political, social, or economic.
  • Coverage — the demographic and geographic reach of the measure.
  • Institutionalization — whether the measure was written into law or policy, or remained informal.
  • Implementation pace — how quickly a measure moved from announcement to delivery.
  • Novelty, conditionality, and schedule — whether the measure was new, attached conditions, and had a defined timeline.
Descriptive Findings
Visuals from the Data

Selected figures drawn from the events coded so far. These will be published as the dataset is validated period by period.

Figure 1 — Counstering measures over time

Annual counts of attractive versus repressive measures, 1995–2020.

Figure in preparation
Figure 2 — Geographic coverage

Countries and constituencies represented in the coded events.

Figure in preparation
Figure 3 — Measure types

Breakdown of coded measures by political, social, and economic type.

Figure in preparation
Figure 4 — Institutionalisation & pace

How far measures were written into law, and how quickly they were delivered.

Figure in preparation
Access
Getting the Data

GovConReD will be released as an open-access dataset alongside its codebook once data collection and validation are complete for each covered period. Journal replication files will be posted here as papers are published.

Researchers interested in early access or collaboration should get in touch via the Contact page.