The Correlates of War: I; Research Origins and Rationale

xix, [3], 405, [5] pages. Figures. Tables. Formulae. Some cover wear and soiling. Some endpaper discoloration. Some underlining noted. Cover has some wear and soiling. This work is divided into the following parts, each with one or more sections within in: I. The Normative Orientation; II. The Theoretical Orientation; III. Policy Analysis and Proposals; IV: The Possible Role of Scientific Knowledge; V: The Acquisition of Knowledge; VI: Indicator Construction and Data Acquisition; and VII. Testing Some Preliminary Models. This is followed by Notes, Combined References, Correlates of War Project Bibliography, and Index. J. David Singer (December 7, 1925, New York City - December 28, 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan) was an American professor of political science at the University of Michigan. Singer was a pioneer in the application of quantitative methods to puzzles in the field of international relations. His major contribution was the Correlates of War project, which he began in 1964 at the University of Michigan. It is a major database of statistics relating to war and its causes. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He held a bachelor's degree from Duke University and obtained a doctoral degree from New York University in 1956. He joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 1958. The Correlates of War project is an academic study of the history of warfare. It was started in 1963 at the University of Michigan by political scientist J. David Singer. Concerned with collecting data about the history of wars and conflict among states, the project has driven forward quantitative research into the causes of warfare. The Correlates of War project seeks to facilitate the collection, dissemination, and use of accurate and reliable quantitative data in international relations. Key principles of the project include a commitment to standard scientific principles of replication, data reliability, documentation, review, and the transparency of data collection procedures. The project has collected data on many attributes of international politics and national capabilities over time. Available data collected by the Correlates of War project start in 1816. The most widely used databases developed by the project include an identification of independent states since 1816, a list of interstate and civil wars since 1816, a list of "militarized disputes" (militarized crises that end short of war), and national capabilities measured annually for all countries since 1816 (including the size of countries' military, their energy consumption as a proxy for industrialization, population size, urbanized population, and raw material production of iron and steel). Other databases include an identification of all alliances since 1816, territorial relationships and changes over time, and membership in intergovernmental organizations. All Correlates of War databases are available free for public and academic use with proper citation. In addition to generating these several data sets and constructing quantitative indicators of key variables that might turn out to be correlates of war, the project has completed and published an impressive variety of statistical analyses and interesting and promising hypotheses. The data has also been used extensively by researchers examining such relationships and seeking to explain when countries go to war or avoid it, when they trade, when they form alliances (and the effect of such alliances), and so on. The COW data includes a "WarType" variable assuming integer values 1-9. Interstate wars all have WarType 1. Extra-state wars are either "colonial" (WarType 2) to maintain control of a particular colony or "imperial" (WarType 3) to extend an empire. Intra-state wars are classified as either a civil war for central control (WarType 4), a civil war over local issues (WarType 5) a regional internal war (WarType 6), or an intercommunal war (WarType 7). Non-state wars are classified by whether they take place in non-st.…