Replication Data for: Actor Proliferation and the Fragmentation of Violent Groups in Conflict

This paper proposes a novel application of a measure of actor fragmentation drawn from electoral studies to the growing field of conflict event data. The application facilitates comparison of conflict environments over time and across cases, while enabling researchers to take account of the relative activity levels of diverse actors. Analysis of the measure suggests that a fragmentation index diverges from a simple count of active conflict agents in important instances, including in providing a more accurate measure of dominant and weaker conflict agents, capturing dynamics of escalation and continuation of conflict over time and across country cases, and reflecting the coalescence of conflict agents around dominant conflict cleavages. The findings suggest that future research may benefit from combining measures of the discrete count of groups their relative activity levels in order to accurately capture evolving conflict dynamics.

本文将选举研究领域衍生的行动者碎片化（actor fragmentation）测度方法，创新性地应用于蓬勃发展的冲突事件数据（conflict event data）研究领域。该方法可实现不同时间跨度、不同研究案例下冲突环境的横向与纵向比较，同时允许研究者充分考量多元冲突行动者的相对活跃程度。对该测度方法的分析表明，碎片化指数在诸多关键场景下与单纯统计活跃冲突行动者数量的方法存在显著差异：其一是能够更精准地测度占据主导地位与处于弱势地位的冲突行动者，其二是可捕捉不同时间跨度、不同国家案例中冲突升级与持续的动态过程，其三则能够反映冲突行动者围绕主导性冲突裂痕实现聚合的态势。本研究结果显示，未来研究可通过结合行动者群体的离散数量测度与相对活跃程度测度，以精准捕捉不断演变的冲突动态。