Introduction
Welcome to the website of the Armed Group Institutions Database, or AGID. The AGID's initial phase (2012-2013) collects data on armed groups that were parties to conflicts between 1980 and 2010. Data collection will begin in April 2013 with a random sample of approximately 150 groups. The key areas of data collection are armed groups' recruitment, training, education, indoctrination and disciplinary practices. We aim to be compatible with other armed conflict datasets, and with aggregation to the sub-group, group, coalition, and conflict levels.
Latest AGID News
14 December 2012: Funding Success!
We met and exceeded our SciFund crowd-funding goal of $3,607, ultimately raising $3,790 to fund Arhama's six-month Research Co-op. We are incredibly grateful to our 71 donors, some of whom remain anonymous, for supporting this important work.
6 December 2012: Introducing Research Assistant Arhama Rushdi
Arhama Rushdi has agreed to join the AGID project as full-time Research Assistant for April-September 2013. It was an impressive group of forty applicants, eight of whom interviewed as finalists for the position, and I'm very pleased to have Arhama on board.
Arhama, whose Research Co-op salary is jointly funded by Drexel's Steinbright Career Center and a crowd-funding campaign,is a political science major in Drexel's Pennoni Honors College. She is an accomplished researcher, three of whose papers have appeared in Drexel's anthology of outstanding student writing, The 33rd. In addition, Arhama has received a number of academic honors, including the A.J. Drexel Scholarship and the Political Science Essay Prize. Arhama is Secretary General of Dragon Model United Nations and the founder and president of Dragons for Palestine.
I asked Arhama to write a few lines about her background and interests for donors to the AGID project; she writes:
While I am a native of New York City, I moved around so much that I consider myself a global citizen. I have been at Drexel University since 2010 and while at first my decision to study political science was purely a means to law school, it turned out to be much more. With my first escapades into comparative and IR research, I realized this is what I was meant to do.
I was on the look out for a project that would challenge me and allow me to take my learning experience to a new level, when I learned about the AGID Co-op position. The AGID co-op is a perfect fit for me as it encompasses my interests of political science research and human rights. After meeting with professor Hoover Green, I realized her mentorship was an opportunity I could not miss. I will be tackling complex tasks in terms of researching, synthesizing, and coding information on a daily basis and will be working towards a cause that I am truly passionate about at the same time.
After Drexel, I hope to continue my education in a dual JD/PhD program with a concentration in international human rights. One day, I wish to work for the United Nations and advocate for the rights of people who are persecuted for who they are or what they believe in.
5 December 2012: Crowd-Funding Progress!
The AGID is being funded partially by the science crowd-funding initiative SciFund, which has raised over $40,000 in the past three weeks for projects around the US and around the world. With a $100 donation late tonight, funding for the AGID reached 70% of its initial goal. We welcome contributors! For more information about why I chose to work with SciFund, and why I believe "public science" initiatives are important, please read my interview with Anthony Salvagno.