Glossary
Each term has one meaning on this site. The first text is a plain explanation. The quotation is the text of UCDP, with a link to its source.
Last checked against the UCDP pages:
- Event
One incident of armed force that UCDP found in its sources, with one death or more, a place and a date. A count of events on this site is a count of these records.
The words of UCDP:
UCDP define an event as: An incident where armed force was used by an organized actor against another organized actor, or against civilians, resulting in at least 1 direct death at a specific location and a specific date
UCDP GED Codebook, version 26.1, section 2- Organized violence
The three types of violence that UCDP records, taken together.
The words of UCDP:
UCDP collects data on state-based armed conflict, non-state conflict, and one-sided violence. The categories are mutually exclusive and can be aggregated as ‘organized violence’.
UCDP Definitions- State-based conflict
Violence between two sides when one side or the two sides are the government of a state.
The words of UCDP:
A state-based armed conflict is a contested incompatibility that concerns government and/or territory where the use of armed force between two parties, of which at least one is the government of a state, results in at least 25 battle-related deaths in one calendar year.
UCDP Definitions- Non-state conflict
Violence between two organized armed groups when no side is the government of a state.
The words of UCDP:
The use of armed force between two organised armed groups, neither of which is the government of a state, which results in at least 25 battle-related deaths in a year.
UCDP Definitions- One-sided violence
Armed force that a government or an organized group uses against civilians.
The words of UCDP:
The deliberate use of armed force by the government of a state or by a formally organised group against civilians which results in at least 25 deaths in a year.
UCDP Definitions- Estimated deaths (best, low and high estimate)
UCDP gives three estimates of the deaths in each event. This site uses the best estimate for each count of deaths and shows the low and the high estimate beside it.
The words of UCDP:
a best estimate, containing the most reliable estimate of deaths identified in the source material;
a low estimate, containing the most conservative estimate of deaths that is identified in the source material;
a high estimate, containing the highest reliable estimate of deaths identified in the source material.
UCDP attempts to distinguish and not include unreasonable claims in the high estimate of fatalities, and tends to be highly conservative when counting fatalities
UCDP Candidate Events Dataset Codebook, version 1.5, Definitions- Civilians
The people that UCDP counts as civilians in its data. The UCDP meaning is not the meaning in international law.
The words of UCDP:
Civilians in UCDP data are unarmed people who are not active members of the security forces of the state, or members of an organized armed militia or opposition group.
Note that the UCDP definition of civilian does not refer to the definition of civilian under international law.
UCDP Definitions- Actor, as UCDP names it
A side of an event: a state, or a group that is organized in a formal or an informal way. UCDP calls each side an actor. This site writes each name as UCDP writes it. It has two labels of its own. One is for an actor that UCDP does not identify. One is for a group that is named for a person.
The words of UCDP:
A state or a non-state formally organised or informally organised group.
UCDP Definitions- Dyad
The two sides of a conflict, as one pair.
The words of UCDP:
A dyad is made up of two armed and opposing actors.
UCDP Definitions- Candidate Events
The monthly UCDP dataset of events before review. The figures of the newest months come from it. Candidate Events are preliminary and UCDP revises them.
The words of UCDP:
Not all events in UCDP Candidate will make it into the final UCDP GED and new events will be added. The UCDP Candidate is a dataset containing events that have a high probability of being included in the final annual version of UCDP GED.
UCDP Candidate Events Dataset Codebook, version 1.5, Introduction- GED
The UCDP Georeferenced Event Dataset. UCDP releases it one time each year, after review. It holds the events to the end of the year before.
This is a term of the site. UCDP has no entry for it.
- Preliminary figure (P)
A figure that rests on Candidate Events. The mark P follows the figure. A month from Candidate Events carries the mark. A longer period carries it when it counts an event from Candidate Events. UCDP can change the figure in a later file.
This is a term of the site. UCDP has no entry for it.
- Latest complete month
The newest month that the UCDP data cover to its last day.
This is a term of the site. UCDP has no entry for it.
- Data through
The date of the newest event in the UCDP files that the site read. Each period on the site ends on this date or before it.
This is a term of the site. UCDP has no entry for it.
- 12 months to a date
The 365 days that end on the date. The date is the data-through date.
This is a term of the site. UCDP has no entry for it.
- Tracked count
A count that the log of changes follows. The log follows three counts: events and estimated deaths in the latest complete month, and events in the last 12 months.
This is a term of the site. UCDP has no entry for it.
- Revision
A change that UCDP makes to the count of a period that the log holds already. The log says "UCDP revised".
This is a term of the site. UCDP has no entry for it.
- Page threshold
The count of events in the last 12 months that a page needs: 10 for a country or an actor, 5 for a region.
This is a term of the site. UCDP has no entry for it.
The site copied the texts of UCDP on . A quotation keeps the spelling of its source.