Conflict and Protest in the African States from 1997 - 2017

Project Overview

The African continent has experienced a disproportionately large number of armed conflicts and it has witnessed some disturbing upward conflict trends. My project dataset contains information on the specific dates and locations of political violence, the types of events, the groups (Actors) involved, and fatalities. My interactive visual displays maps and charts with different KPIs featuring an overview of African political violence and protest trends from 1997 – 2017 and focuses on conflict per year by Country, Event Type, and Actor and percentage of fatalities and Year Over Year(YOY) trends.

Role:

Problem Statement

Africa, with its combination of fragile governments and institutions, abject poverty amid great resources, wealth, and a legacy of incessant violent conflict, has increasingly become integrated into the global security architecture. With growing globalization, insecurity anywhere is a threat to security everywhere. Given this context, Africa’s own insecurity is serving as a source of concern. Africa is plagued by a broad spectrum of traditional and non-traditional security threats. With its failed and failing states, its institutional weaknesses, and attendant ungoverned spaces combined with increasing gaps between the `haves’ and `have-nots’, conflict in Africa has increasingly become endemic. The continent’s security, meanwhile, has become a rising source of concern.

Executive Summary

Data Dictionary

Key Takeaways

Next Steps

*Building on locally-based and traditional peace processes and training for peacemaking.
*Integrate human rights monitoring, advocacy, and capacity building and addressing the economic roots of
conflict.
*The transfer of power to a democratically elected government.
*Democratic reform and reform of African militaries. A key component of a democratic reform movement is
civilian control over the military, often a key instigator of the conflict.