Armed Conflicts, 1946—2008
| Published date | 01 July 2009 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022343309339112 |
| Date | 01 July 2009 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
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vol. 46, no. 4, 2009, pp. 577–587
Sage Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi,
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DOI 10.1177/0022343309339112
SPECIAL
DATA
FEATURE
Armed Conflicts, 1946–2008*
LOTTA HARBOM & PETER WALLENSTEEN
Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP), Uppsala University
In 2008, the number of active armed conflicts was 36, up by one from 2007. Over the past few years,
the number of active conflicts has not seen any drastic changes from one year to the next. However, the
number of armed conflicts has increased by nearly one-quarter since 2003, which was the year with the
lowest number of active armed conflicts since the 1970s. While the number of conflicts continued to
increase, the number of wars (i.e. conflicts with over 1,000 battle-related deaths) remained at a very low
level, with only five recorded for 2008. Four conflicts listed in 2007 were no longer active in 2008, but
during the year, two conflicts were restarted by previously recorded actors (in Burundi and in Georgia).
Furthermore, three new conflicts erupted, one of which was fought between states (Djibouti–Eritrea).
Thus, the record-long four-year interlude 2004–07 with no interstate conflict was broken.
Since the end of World War II, a total of 240
armed conflicts have been active in 151 loca-
tions throughout the world.1 The annual
incidence of conflict and conflict dyads2
since 1989 is recorded in Tables I and II, and
Figure 1 shows the trend in the number of
active armed conflicts since 1946.
In 2008, 36 conflicts were active in
26 locations worldwide. This is one more
than recorded in 2007.3 While the number
of active conflicts has not seen any drastic
changes from one year to the next, it has
gone up by seven or nearly one-quarter since
2003, the year with the lowest number of
conflicts since the 1970s. Yet, the number
of conflicts remains at only two-thirds of the
peak recorded in 1992.
The biggest increase occurred in Africa,
from nine in 2003 and seven in 2005 (lower
than any time since the 1970s) to 12 in 2008.
In 2006 and 2007, conflicts re-erupted in
* Research for this article was financed by the Swedish
International Cooperation Development Agency (Sida).
Numerous colleagues in Uppsala have contributed to
the data collection, notably Johan Brosché, Kristine
Eck, Hanne Fjelde, Helena Grusell, Anna Hesselgren,
Stina Högbladh, Emma Johansson, Joakim Kreutz, Sara
Lindberg, Therése Pettersson, Ralph Sundberg and Nina
von Uexküll. Our replication data are found at http://
www.prio.no/jpr/datasets. Correspondence: lotta.harbom@
pcr.uu.se.
1 For an intrastate conflict, the location is a country. For
an interstate conflict, it is two or more countries. Several
countries (notably India) have several separate conflicts
going on at the same time, fought over different incom-
patibilities, which is why the number of conflicts exceeds
the number of locations. For in-depth definitions of
key concepts, see http://www.pcr.uu.se/research/UCDP/
data_and_publications/definitions_all.htm.
2 A dyad is defined as a pair of primary warring parties. In
interstate conflicts, these primary warring parties are gov-
ernments of states, whereas in intrastate conflicts, one is the
government of a state and the other is a rebel group. For
more information about the dyadic dimension of armed
conflicts, see Harbom, Melander & Wallensteen (2008).
3 Last year (Harbom, Melander & Wallensteen, 2008), we
reported 34 conflicts for 2007. Based on new information,
we have added a conflict in Russia (Caucasus Emirate).
Tables I–II, Figure 1 and the databases in Uppsala (http://
www.pcr.uu.se) and PRIO (http://www.prio.no/cscw/
armedconflict) have been amended accordingly. For
more information about the new conflict, see the Russia
section of UCDP’s online database, at http://www.pcr.
uu.se/gpdatabase/gpcountry.php?id=132®ionSelect=
9- Eastern_Europe.
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