III. Patterns of organized violence, 2003–12

Chapter:

2. Armed conflict

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2014

Author(s):

Neil Melvin, Isak Svensson, Magnus Lundgren, Peter Wallensteen, Patrik Johansson, Lotta Themnér, Camilla Schippa, Daniel Hyslop

This section provides a 10-year overview of three categories of organized violence used by the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP): state-based conflict, non-state conflict and one-sided violence. The number of incidents of violent action that resulted in the deaths of more than 25 people in a particular year (UCDP's threshold for counting) was slightly lower in 2012, at 97, than in 2003, when it stood at 111. While the number of state-based and non-state conflicts had increased over the decade, the number of incidences of one-sided violence declined continuously (see figure 2.1). Looking at the overall trend in the number of fatalities in organized violence, a more negative picture emerges. Largely due to developments in state-based conflict, the number of deaths from organized violence increased from almost 36 000 in 2003 to nearly 46 000 in 2012 (see figure 2.2).