ICB Data Collections

Primary Data Collections (version 10, released July 2010)

The most recent versions of the primary ICB data sets (version 10) contain information for all crises occurring during the 1918-2007 period.

This version includes data on 455 international crises (icb1v10) and 1000 crisis actors (icb2v10). There are 35 protracted conflicts.

For access to full-text summaries for all crises, consult the ICB Data Viewer.

Click on the appropriate file name below to download the data collections. The data sets have been saved in two different formats (SPSS for Windows and tab-delimited text). To conserve disk space and increase download times, all files have been compressed into ZIP files.

Release notes for ICB Version 10

ICB Data Collections Archives

The ICB Data Collections Archives includes data files and codebooks for ICB versions 5.0 to 9.0.

Dyadic-Level Crisis Data (version 2.0, released July 2003)

This data Set contains information about 882 non-directed crisis dyads identified from the main data collections offered by the ICB Project. The data Set spans the years 1918-2001. A crisis dyad is a pair of states satisfying each of the following three conditions: (1) both are members of the interstate system, (2) at least one of the states satisfies all three of the ICB necessary conditions for crisis involvement, and (3) at least one of the states has directed a hostile action against the other. Each case in this data Set represents an annual observation of each of the crisis dyads over the complete duration of their confrontation. For more information about the construction of this data Set, as well as a comparison of crisis dyads to militarized interstate dispute dyads, see Hewitt 2003 ("Dyadic Processes and International Crises" in Journal of Conflict Resolution, 47:669-692).

Click here to download a compressed file (icbdy_20.zip) containing these five files:

• codebook.rtf - Complete codebook for the dyadic-level crisis data
• icbdy_20.dat - Dyadic-level crisis data, tab-delimited
• icbdy_20.sav - Dyadic-level crisis data, SPSS for Windows
• readme.txt - A listing of all files contained in this compressed archive
• version_20_revisions.rtf - Description of changes made since version 1.0.

Crisis-Density Rivalries

The data collections available in this zipped file are the result of a research project to identify rivalries through the recurrence of international crisis between pairs of states (Hewitt, 2005, Journal of Peace Research) . 'Crisis-density rivalries' differ conceptually from protracted conflicts because they are defined strictly as dyadic interactions. For more information about this project, please consult Hewitt (2005).

Click here to download a compressed file (crisriv.zip) containing these six files:

• readme.txt - A listing of all files contained in this compressed archive
• codebook.rtf - A codebook that describes the contents of two data files.
• rivallev.dat - contains information about all rivalries identified in the project (stored in a tab-delimited format)
• rivallev.sav - contains information about all rivalries identified in the project (stored in a SPSS data file)
• crsdydlv.dat - contains information about each crisis dyad from each of the identified rivalries (stored in a tab-delimited format)
• crsdydlv.sav - contains information about each crisis dyad from each of the identified rivalries (stored in a SPSS data file)

One-Sided Crisis Data

A one-sided crisis is an international crisis in which one actor perceives itself to be in crisis by virtue of a verbal or physical act by an adversary, but where that adversary does not perceive itself to be in crisis mode. Using the previous version of the ICB data (covering the period 1918-1994), Hewitt and Wilkenfeld (1999) identified 109 one-sided crises. In that same study, Hewitt and Wilkenfeld found that crisis behavior in one-sided crises is significantly different from behavior in normal (or two-sided crises).

This data Set identifies whether a crisis was one-sided or not. Click here to download a compressed file containing these three files:

• icb_1side.sav (SPSS for Windows 95)
• icb_1side.dat (tab-delimited ASCII file)
• 1sidecod.doc (Word 6.0 document containing codebook documentation)

For a PDF version (requires Adobe Acrobat) of the codebook, click here.

DISCLAIMER: These data are provided as is, with the permission of the authors and stewards of the databases. They are intended for noncommercial uses in the scholarly community.