ETH/PRIO Civil Conflict CeaseFire (CF)

The “ETH/PRIO Civil Conflict CeaseFire” (CF) dataset is the first comprehensive global dataset covering the full range of ceasefire arrangements in civil conflicts between 1989 and 2020. In total, the CF data provide information on more than 2,200 ceasefires in 107 civil conflicts across 65 countries. The CF data suggest that half of all civil conflicts produce at least one ceasefire.  Indeed, many armed conflicts produce multiple ceasefires during the period of active hostilities. Yet despite this frequency, researchers have previously been unable to systematically assess the effects of ceasefires on civil conflict.

The CF dataset defines ceasefires as arrangements that include a statement by at least one conflict party to stop violence temporarily or permanently from a specific point in time. The CF data is therefore built on a very broad definition of ceasefires that captures the full range of related arrangements, including everything from unilateral verbal arrangements to formal multilateral agreements. In this way, “ceasefire” serves as an umbrella term that captures a wide variety of security arrangements, including those often referred to as a “truce”, “armistice”, or “cessation of hostilities”. Nevertheless, the CF dataset captures meaningful differences between various ceasefires by classifying each agreement based on common criteria, including the agreement’s purpose and spatio-temporal scope.

All ceasefires are mapped onto, and are compatible with, the UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset (ACD, Gleditsch et al., 2002) and the UCDP Dyadic Conflict Dataset (Pettersson, Högbladh & Öberg, 2019). This allows the research community to model what likely is an important, but until now omitted variable in analyses of civil conflict, thereby informing theory development and policymaking alike.