UCDP One-sided Violence Codebook
Version 1.3 – September 4, 2008
Joakim Kreutz
Replacing codebook for version 1.0 by Joakim Kreutz & Kristine Eck (2005)

Citation for the dataset:
Eck, Kristine and Lisa Hultman, 2007. ‘One-sided violence against civilians in war: insightsfrom new fatality data´, Journal of Peace Research 44(2): 233-246.
(When appropriate) also cite this codebook. Always include the Version number in analyses
using the dataset.

Uppsala Conflict Data Program
Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala UniversityIntroduction
This document describes the One-sided Violence Dataset, a project within the Uppsala
Conflict Data Program (UCDP) at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research,
Uppsala University. Funding for the UCDP One-sided violence project is developed withsupport from the Human Security Research Group, Simon Fraser University, inVancouver, Canada.
Case-specific information about the cases of one-sided violence is available atwww.ucdp.uu.se/database. Questions regarding the definitions and the content of thedataset can be directed to Ralph.Sundberg@pcr.uu.se1

Definition of One-sided violenceOne-sided violence is the use of armed force by the government of a state or by a formallyorganized group against civilians which results in at least 25 deaths. Extrajudicial killingsin custody are excluded.
The separate elements of the definition are operationalized as follows:(1) Use of armed force: use of arms in order to exert violent force, resulting in death(1.1) Arms: any material means, e.g. manufactured weapons but also sticks, stones,fire, water, etc(2) 25 deaths: a minimum of 25 civilian deaths per year and per actor(3) Government: the party controlling the capital of the state(4) Formally organized group: any non-governmental group of people having announced
a name for their group and using armed force(5) State: a state is(4.1) an internationally recognized sovereign government controlling a specified
territory, or(4.2) an internationally unrecognized government controlling a specified territory
whose sovereignty is not disputed by another internationally recognizedsovereign government previously controlling the same territory.
(6) Extrajudicial killings in custody: when the government of a state kills a person in its
custody(5.1) custody: when the person is located in a prison or another type ofgovernmental facility

2

Variables in the One-sided violence dataset
Actor ID. For some purposes it may be necessary to follow the same actor which isresponsible for one-sided violence during several years. Thus, each actor recorded in thedataset is given a unique Actor ID.
Actor. The government of a state or the name used by a formally organized groupaccording to the UCDP one-sided violence definition.
Year. The calendar year of observation. UCDP employs a threshold for inclusion of atleast 25 deaths caused by one-sided violence for each actor in a calendar year. There are cases
when actors are responsible for one-sided violence of a scale that does not meet the threshold.
These observations are coded as absence of one-sided violence. This does not mean that there
are no uncertainties of the codings. See www.ucdp.uu.se/database.
Best, Low and High fatality estimates.
The general rule for UCDP’s estimation of one-sided violence is moderation. All incidents
have to be verified in one way or another, and all estimates reported are based on UCDP
expertise of each particular conflict. As a general rule, all figures are disaggregated as far as
possible and any figures that are not trustworthy are disregarded in the coding process. Due tothe great uncertainty of reports from conflict areas, the project provides three estimatesconcerning battle-related deaths for each year.
(a) Best estimate. The UCDP Best estimate consist of the aggregated most reliable
numbers for all incidents of one-sided violence during a year. If different reports
provide different estimates, an examination is made as to what source is most reliable.
If no such distinction can be made, UCDP as a rule include the lower figure given.
(b) Low estimate. The UCDP Low estimate consists of the aggregated low estimates for
all incidents of one-sided violence during a year. If different reports provide different
estimates and a higher estimate is considered more reliable, the low estimate is also
reported if deemed reasonable.
(c) High estimate. The UCDP High estimate consists of the aggregated high estimates for
all incidents of one-sided violence during a year. If different reports provide different
estimates and a lower estimate is considered more or equally reliable, the highestimate is also reported if deemed reasonable. If there are incidents when there issome uncertainty about what party have been involved, these may also be included in
the high estimate.
Government Actor. For some purposes it may be necessary to disaggregate between
government and non-governmental actors in the dataset. This variable records if the actor is
the government of a state.
Location. The geographical country/countries where the one-sided violence is observed ina given year. Location is a string variable, listing all countries in which the actor is active inalphabetical order. More detailed information about the location for each actor is available in
the UCDP database www.ucdp.uu.se/database.
GWNOLoc. This field contains the country code(s) for the state(s) listed in the Location
variable. Thus, it lists the country codes for the primary party/parties in the conflict.
GWNoloc is a string variable, where the numbers are separated by a comma (‘,’).
3

Region. Region of location.
1 Europe
2 Middle East
3 Asia4 Africa
5 Americas
Version. The version number of the dataset.

4