Replication Data for: Introducing the African Relational Pro-Government Militia (PGM) Dataset

This paper introduces the African Relational Pro-Government Militia Dataset (RPGMD). Recent research has improved our understandings of how pro-government forces form, under what conditions they are most likely to act, and how they affect the risk of internal conflict, repression, and state fragility. In this paper, we give an overview of our dataset that identifies African pro-government militias (PGMs) from 1997 to 2014. The dataset shows the wide proliferation and diffusion of these groups on the African continent. We identify 149 active PGMs, 104 of which are unique to our dataset. In addition to descriptive information about these PGMs, we contribute measures of PGM alliance relationships, ethnic relationships, and context. We use these variables to examine the determinants of the presence and level of abusive behavior perpetrated by individual PGMs. Results highlight the need to consider nuances in PGM-government relationships in addition to PGM characteristics.

本文介绍了非洲关联亲政府民兵数据集（African Relational Pro-Government Militia Dataset, RPGMD）。过往研究已深化了我们对亲政府武装的形成路径、最易采取行动的情境条件，以及其如何影响内部冲突、镇压与国家脆弱性风险的认知。本文概述了我们构建的非洲亲政府民兵数据集，该数据集用于识别1997年至2014年间的非洲亲政府民兵（Pro-Government Militias, 简称PGMs）。该数据集揭示了此类组织在非洲大陆的广泛扩散与蔓延态势。本研究共识别出149支活跃的亲政府民兵，其中104支为本次数据集独有的样本。除包含这些亲政府民兵的描述性信息外，本数据集还提供了亲政府民兵的联盟关系、族群关系以及所处情境的量化度量指标。我们依托这些变量，探究了单个亲政府民兵实施虐待行为的存在性与严重程度的决定因素。研究结果表明，除需考虑亲政府民兵自身特征外，还应关注其与政府之间关系的细微差异。