Sub-state conflict is the source of tremendous human suffering and financial burden worldwide. More than 114 million individuals are currently forcibly displaced, most as a result of violent conflict, and recent statistics estimate annual economic costs of conflict around $14.8 trillion (12.4% of world GDP) (Institute for Economics and Peace, 2018).
While violent conflict is likely to remain a perennial feature of human group interaction, the Political Violence Lab engages in research that seeks to inform efforts to mitigate its frequency, intensity, and downstream effects.
The lab was established by Dr. Andrew Shaver at Dartmouth College in January 2018 before moving with him to the University of California, Merced/the University of California, DC Center in the summer of 2019. The lab is engaged in research projects (described here) with affiliated researchers from a variety of academic institutions. The lab has involved the participation of approximately 280 undergraduate, recently graduated, and graduate students from Arizona State University; Columbia University; Dartmouth College; Duke University; New York University; Princeton University; the University of California campuses of Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz; the University of Michigan-Flint; Vanderbilt University; and the George Washington University.
The lab gratefully acknowledges the support it has received from the University of California’s Washington DC Center; the University of California, Merced’s Center for Analytic Political Engagement; and Dartmouth College during the 2017 and 2018 academic years, which was made possible by the generosity of Susan K. and Stuart E. Lucas ’81 through the Lucas Family Fund for Undergraduate Research.
Many photographs on this site were generously supplied by Mark Jones of Marsh Kove Media, Lars Blackmore, DJ (DhungJoo) Kim, and Kainoa Little. Joshua Angelo, Justin Kramer, and Aaron Liow helped develop this site. Amruta Baradwaj, Soleil Barbour-Berson, Kai Keltner, and Emma Khodaverdian have helped keep this website updated.