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Sovereignty Rupture as a Central Concept in Quantitative Measures of Civil War

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  • Nicholas Sambanis
  • Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl

Abstract

Empirical studies of the causes or consequences of civil war often use measures that do not correspond to theory and results are sensitive to small changes in the coding of civil wars. Civil war is an instance of “sovereignty rupture†and is inherently a polity-level phenomenon, but that understanding of civil war is not reflected in data in which civil war is coded as a dyadic conflict—the state fighting a domestic challenger. We demonstrate the consequences of conceptual ambiguity about which conflicts to code as civil war and when to code the start and end of a civil war. Using a new data set of civil wars from 1945 to 2016 that is consistent with the concept of sovereignty rupture, we replicate several studies and find that their results are often overturned or weakened when we use our data. We advocate for greater deliberateness in data selection in civil war studies, focusing on the fit between the question of interest and the concept of civil war that is underlying a given data set.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicholas Sambanis & Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl, 2019. "Sovereignty Rupture as a Central Concept in Quantitative Measures of Civil War," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 63(6), pages 1542-1578, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:63:y:2019:i:6:p:1542-1578
    DOI: 10.1177/0022002719842657
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Matthias Basedau & Birte Pfeiffer & Johannes Vüllers, 2016. "Bad Religion? Religion, Collective Action, and the Onset of Armed Conflict in Developing Countries," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 60(2), pages 226-255, March.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Faisal Z. Ahmed, 2022. "From grievances to civil war: The impact of geopolitics," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 427-451, July.
    3. Jonah Schulhofer-Wohl, 2020. "On-Side fighting in civil war: The logic of mortal alignment in Syria," Rationality and Society, , vol. 32(4), pages 402-460, November.

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