| COW | Alliances (v3.03) |
The Correlates of War Formal Alliance data set seeks to identify each formal alliance between at least two states that fall into the classes of defense pact, neutrality or non-aggression treaty, or entente agreement. A defense pact (Type I) is the highest level of military commitment, requiring alliance members to come to each other’s aid militarily if attacked by a third party. As the labels imply, neutrality and non-aggression pacts (Type II) pledge signatories to either remain neutral in case of conflict or to not use or otherwise support the use of force against the other alliance members. Finally, ententes (Type III) provide for the least commitment and obligate members to consult in times of crisis or armed attack. Each alliance classifies the highest level of military support that an alliance member pledges to another alliance member. The data set provides the type, members, and appropriate dates of activity of each identified alliance.
Version 3 of the alliance data sets updates the collection to include the years 1816-2000. In addition to extending to 2000, changes were made to the prior data set, both in the inclusion of additional alliances and the exclusion of some old alliances. Users of the data are urged to familiarize themselves with the basic coding procedures employed in the generation of the data. Distributed data include both the list of alliances and a dyadic conversion allowing easy incorporation into dyad-year analyses.
In any papers or publications that utilize this data set, users are asked to give the version number and cite the article of record for the data set, as follows:
Bibliography Entries:
The original alliance data set was assembled in the 1960s under the auspices of the COW project and was initially discussed in:
Singer, J. David, and Melvin Small. 1966. "Formal Alliances, 1815-1939." Journal of Peace Research 3:1-31.
The data were extended in:
Small, Melvin, and J. David Singer. 1969. "Formal Alliances, 1815-1965: An Extension of the Basic Data." Journal of Peace Research 6:257-282.
On July 3, 2003, we released version 3.03 of the main alliance data set. V3.03 of the alliance data changes the coding of 4 alliances to correct for 1 typo and 3 minor differences from the COW state membership list. The dyadic alliance files were updated accordingly. Details of the changes are available by clicking here to access the update history for this data set.
The unit of observation in the main Alliance 3.0 data set is the alliance member. That is, each line of data represents one state in one alliance. Multiple lines (with the same alliance number) show up the full membership of an alliance. Each member is coded as to the dates they joined and exited the alliance (individual members may join or leave an alliance even as the alliance continues), the type of alliance commitment, and whether or not the alliance was left-censored or right-censored (i.e. started before 1816 or was ongoing as of 2000, respectively).
The ZIP file that can be obtained below contains the data and the coding manual, which together make up the data set and documentation. The data set is distributed in comma-delimited format; the first line of the data set contains the variable names. You may view the complete coding manual here.
| 1 |
Alliance_v3.03_Coding_Manual.doc - coding manual for the alliance data set, Microsoft Word format |
| 2 |
Alliance_v3.03_Coding_Manual.rtf - coding manual for the alliance data set, rich-text format |
| 3 |
Alliance_v3.03.csv - main data set, in ascii text (comma-delimited) form. |
Click here to receive zipped data set
To assist research focusing on interstate dyads, we have converted the alliance data set into two auxiliary (dyadic-annual) files. These files contain information – on an annual basis – as to the alliance relationship between any two states. All dyad-years where some alliance tie is present are contained in these files – if a dyad-year is not listed, then there is no formal alliance between the two states in that year. When alliance membership changed during the year (e.g. if a country left an alliance on some date while the alliance itself continued, or it joined after the initial date of alliance creation), a check was performed to ensure that the dyad members were members of the alliance for at least one common day. If they were, then a record showing an alliance status for the year was created.
The dyadic alliance data are presented in two formats, one with one record per dyad-year (listing the greatest level of alliance commitment between the states in that year), and one with multiple records per dyad year (each record listing one alliance between the states in that year). You may view complete details of the dyadic formats here.
Note that these are large data sets in comma-delimited ascii format, with values separated by commas and ending in a .csv extension. By default in Microsoft Windows, files with a .csv extension will open in Microsoft Excel. However, Excel limits the size of spreadsheets. These data files contain more records than Excel allows, and Excel will thus only read part of the data set. To use these datasets, you should use a statistics program such as SPSS or Stata (for instance, use Stata’s “insheet” command) to correctly access the full data.
The ZIP file that can be obtained below contains both dyadic data sets and the documentation for the dyadic conversion. The data sets are distributed in comma-delimited format; the first line of the data set contains the variable names.
The current version for both forms of the dyadic alliance data is v3.03.
| 1 |
Dyadic_Alliance_v3.03_documentation.rtf - documentation for the dyadic alliance data set, rich-text format |
|
2 |
alliance_v3.03_annual_dyadic_multiple.csv - dyadic data set, one record per year, in ascii text (comma-delimited) form. |
| 3 |
alliance_v3.03_annual_dyadic_single.csv - dyadic data set, one record per year, in ascii text (comma-delimited) form. |
Click here to receive zipped dyadic data set
We have created a "Frequently Asked Questions" list that includes common questions and answers about coding rules and the particular application of them to specific cases. You may download or view this document (in rich-text format) here.
Version 3 of the alliance data set is hosted by Douglas Gibler, the University of Alabama, under the COW 2 Data Set Hosting Program. Details on the coding of each alliance are available by contacting him by email at dmgibler@bama.ua.edu. Questions or concerns about the dyadic conversion of the data (only) should be directed to Scott Bennett, sbennett@psu.edu.