Data Set to Article: Bad Religion? Religion, Collective Action, and the Onset of Armed Conflict in Developing Countries
Matthias Basedau / Birte Pfeiffer / Johannes Vüllers
Data Set to Article: Bad Religion? Religion, Collective Action, and the Onset of Armed Conflict in Developing Countries
Dataset
Description
Anecdotal evidence from many armed conflicts suggests that religion incites violence. However, empirical research has hitherto found no conclusive answer on the extent to which religion is connected to armed conflict onset. Contributing to the filling of this gap, the RCDC database incorporates important religious factors that previous studies left largely untested. The data set covers 130 developing countries for the period 1990 to 2010. Results from logistic regressions confirm our expectation that certain religious factors fuel armed conflict—in particular, the overlap of religious and other identities, religious groups’ grievances, and religious leaders’ calls for violence. We also find that religious determinants vary in their impact according to whether conflicts are religious or not in origin. The data set has been published as supplement to the article “Bad religion? Religion, Collective Action, and the Onset of Armed Conflict in Developing Countries” in the “Journal of Conflict Resolution”.
