Multi-dimensional Measurement of Militarisation

It can be argued that militarisation is the defining Zeitgeist of the new 'post-post-Cold War era'. Despite a rich tradition of research, the volume of cross-national empirical research on militarisation—and thus our knowledge of the causes and consequences of the phenomenon—remains thin.

This project aims to address this gap by:

• Developing a multi-dimensional concept of militarisation, covering the material and the political and social dimensions; and 
• Compiling a first Global Dataset on Multi-dimensional Measures of Militarization (M3), providing data on these three dimensions and covering the post-Cold-War period (1990–2020) and at least 150 countries.

The project team will publish a codebook containing information about each of the variables in the dataset. Furthermore, we will submit a research proposal for a follow-up project to the German Research Foundation (DFG) by the end of 2023. This proposal will aim to further expand the dataset and use the data for comparative research. The objective is to gain new insights into the relationship between the different dimensions of militarisation and their impact on regime stability, internal security and development.

Find more information on the M3 Website.