Data Management in International Relations: Expanding the EUGene Software Program

EUGene is a software program that scholars use to build quantitative data sets in order to analyze international conflict. The software routinizes a set of data preparation tasks that are cumbersome and difficult, merging data from input data sets with differing formats into output data sets according to easily specified user choices. EUGene also generates data for variables concerned with an important expected utility theory of conflict initiation and escalation. EUGene was initially developed under a prior National Science Foundation grant and released publicly in 1998. It was expanded, with other additions made without NSF funding. EUGene is available for free download to the research community from http://www.eugenesoftware.org.

The current project further develops the EUGene software. To this point, key analyses have been accomplished using the expected utility data generated by EUGene; continued program development will remain focused on expanding the program's data management aspects. In this next phase, the Principal Investigator adds additional user data sets to the program and deals with problematic user data, adds another unit of analysis to create datasets to better analyze processes of dispute escalation and conflict joining behavior, adds additional conflict data, tracks data sets for easier replication, makes additional alliance data available, and implements various other small improvements. Other expansion items may be added over the next two years in response to user requests. Continued development of EUGene provides the community of quantitative international relations researchers with a tool that facilitates new research and expands ongoing research agendas.