Electoral contention and violence (ECAV): A new dataset
| Author | Alexander Jung,Elio Amicarelli,Ursula Daxecker |
| Published date | 01 September 2019 |
| Date | 01 September 2019 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0022343318823870 |
| Subject Matter | Special Data Features |
Special Data Feature
Electoral contention and violence (ECAV):
A new dataset
Ursula Daxecker
Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam
Elio Amicarelli
Independent researcher
Alexander Jung
School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg
Abstract
Recent elections in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Co
ˆte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan have displayed
substantial contestation and violence. A growing literature explores the causes and consequences of electoral con-
tention and violence, but researchers lack comprehensive, disaggregated data establishing a substantive link between
elections and violence. The Electoral Contention and Violence (ECAV) dataset conceptualizes electoral contention
as nonviolent or violent events of contestation by state or non-state actors related to national elections. The data
contain more than 18,000 events of election-related contention covering 136 countries holding competitive national
elections between 1990 and 2012. This article describes the scope of ECAV, presents the project’s definition of
electoral contention and the variables included, and outlines the coding procedure. We then compare ECAV to other
datasets on electoral contention. Cross-national and subnational analyses of electoral competition and violence show
that the data are useful for assessing the global and subnational implications of existing theories. ECAV addresses
current data limitations by focusing on election-related contention, by using clear criteria to determine whether
events are election-related, and by identifying the timing, geocoded location, and actors involved.
Keywords
dataset, disaggregation, elections, events data, protest, violence
Introduction
Recent elections in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Co
ˆte
d’Ivoire, Egypt, Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan have
displayed substantial contestation and violence. An
emerging literature explores the causes and consequences
of electoral contention, examining how the competitive-
ness of elections, the response of losing parties, the qual-
ity of the elections, armed conflict, and the role of
international actors affects the incidence of contention
(Birch & Muchlinski, 2017; Burchard, 2015; Daxecker,
2012, 2014; Flores & Nooruddin, 2012; Hafner-
Burton, Hyde & Jablonski, 2014; Hyde & Marinov,
2014; Kuntz & Thompson, 2009; Matanock, 2017;
Norris, Frank & Martı
´nez i Coma, 2015; Rauschenbach
& Paula, forthcoming; Salehyan & Linebarger, 2015;
Smidt, 2016; Staniland, 2015; Steele, 2011; Straus &
Taylor, 2012; Tucker, 2007; von Borzyskowski, 2013).
A major limitation, however, is the lack of comprehen-
sive, disaggregated data on electoral contention – a lack
that has been noted by scholars and practitioners alike
(European Commission & United Nations Develop-
ment Programme, 2011; Fjelde & Ho
¨glund, 2016b).
Conceptualizing electoral contention as nonviolent or
Corresponding author:
u.daxecker@uva.nl
Journal of Peace Research
2019, Vol. 56(5) 714–723
ªThe Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0022343318823870
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