The upheavals in North Africa and the Middle East in early 2011 caught most analysts and decision makers by surprise. In order to better prepare researchers and policy makers for future conflicts, this Action will build a new network called the European Network of Conflict Research (ENCoRe). Bringing together scholars in at least 10 COST countries, the network is supported by innovative tools for data integration and analysis. The aim of the Action is to coordinate and accelerate the construction and maintenance of conflict datasets with the help of an integrated online portal that allows researchers and policy makers to analyse and predict the outbreak and course of conflict processes around the world. Focusing on civil war and related types of political violence such as violent protest, riots, state repression and terrorism, our goal is to overcome institutional fragmentation currently hindering progress in European conflict research and to complement country-based analyses of countries with integrated data that enable scholars to study a wide range of risk factors. To achieve these objectives, the Action will launch a series of activities organized around the database system, as well as workshops with scientists and policy makers and training sessions for younger researchers.
conflict research - risk analysis - political violence - relational data bases - geographic information systems
