Data Projects
Rebel Organization Leaders (ROLE) Database
With Benjamin Acosta and Daniel Silverman
*When using, please cite: Acosta, Benjamin, Reyko Huang, and Daniel Silverman. "Introducing ROLE: A Database of Rebel Leader Attributes in Armed Conflict." Journal of Peace Research (2022).
ROLE is a database of rebel leader biographies, the first database of its kind. There is a wealth of data on the attributes, backgrounds, and experiences of state leaders in political science. These data have been used profitably to study everything from when leaders start wars to when they change their constitutions to seize dictatorial control. Yet, to date, we have lacked similarly comprehensive, large-scale data on the leaders of non-state violent organizations. The Rebel Organization Leaders (ROLE) Database aims to fill this gap, providing a wide range of biographical information on all rebel, insurgent, and terrorist leaders active in civil wars between 1980 and 2011. The database should enable new research on how rebel leaders shape the dynamics of violent conflicts and contemporary world politics more broadly.
Rebel Governance Dataset (1950-2006)
*When using, please cite: Huang, Reyko. The Wartime Origins of Democratization: Civil War, Rebel Governance, and Political Regimes. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press (2016).
This dataset contains the following information for rebel groups in major civil wars ending between 1950 and 2006: 1) Rebel sources of funding (civilian contributions; natural resources; diaspora remittances; taxation on goods and services; foreign support; state funds; criminal funds; and funds from autonomous regions); and 2) Rebel institution-building (legal/judicial system; tax system; executive leadership; legislature or regional councils; police/local defense force; boycott of state taxes; education; health care; humanitarian relief; media; and overseas diplomacy). Chapter 3 of my book, The Wartime Origins of Democratization, provides a theoretical discussion for gathering data on rebel governance; details the variables contained in the dataset; offers descriptive statistics on rebel governance while dispelling some common myths; provides preliminary statistical analysis of the conditions under which rebel groups build governance institutions; and, importantly, provides a fairly extensive discussion of the challenges of constructing a dataset of this sort.
With Benjamin Acosta and Daniel Silverman
*When using, please cite: Acosta, Benjamin, Reyko Huang, and Daniel Silverman. "Introducing ROLE: A Database of Rebel Leader Attributes in Armed Conflict." Journal of Peace Research (2022).
ROLE is a database of rebel leader biographies, the first database of its kind. There is a wealth of data on the attributes, backgrounds, and experiences of state leaders in political science. These data have been used profitably to study everything from when leaders start wars to when they change their constitutions to seize dictatorial control. Yet, to date, we have lacked similarly comprehensive, large-scale data on the leaders of non-state violent organizations. The Rebel Organization Leaders (ROLE) Database aims to fill this gap, providing a wide range of biographical information on all rebel, insurgent, and terrorist leaders active in civil wars between 1980 and 2011. The database should enable new research on how rebel leaders shape the dynamics of violent conflicts and contemporary world politics more broadly.
Rebel Governance Dataset (1950-2006)
*When using, please cite: Huang, Reyko. The Wartime Origins of Democratization: Civil War, Rebel Governance, and Political Regimes. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press (2016).
This dataset contains the following information for rebel groups in major civil wars ending between 1950 and 2006: 1) Rebel sources of funding (civilian contributions; natural resources; diaspora remittances; taxation on goods and services; foreign support; state funds; criminal funds; and funds from autonomous regions); and 2) Rebel institution-building (legal/judicial system; tax system; executive leadership; legislature or regional councils; police/local defense force; boycott of state taxes; education; health care; humanitarian relief; media; and overseas diplomacy). Chapter 3 of my book, The Wartime Origins of Democratization, provides a theoretical discussion for gathering data on rebel governance; details the variables contained in the dataset; offers descriptive statistics on rebel governance while dispelling some common myths; provides preliminary statistical analysis of the conditions under which rebel groups build governance institutions; and, importantly, provides a fairly extensive discussion of the challenges of constructing a dataset of this sort.