Small Wars, Big Data

A revolution in the study of conflict, enabled by vast data and modern methods, yields new insights into terrorism, civil wars, and foreign interventions. Modern warfare is not about struggles over territory but over people; civilians—and the information they might choose to provide—can turn the tide at critical junctures.

Drawing on research ranging from Latin America and the Middle East to Central and Southeast Asia, Jake Shapiro will share insights from his book Small Wars, Big Data: The Information Revolution in Modern Conflict, coauthored with Eli Berman and Joseph Felter.

About Jake Shapiro

Jake Shapiro is Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University and codirects the Empirical Studies of Conflict Project (ESOC). ESOC identifies, compiles, and analyzes micro-level conflict data to provide policymakers with greater analyses and recommendations for responding to security threats.

He is author of The Terrorist’s Dilemma: Managing Violent Covert Organizations and co-author of Small Wars, Big Data: The Information Revolution in Modern Conflict. His research has been published in broad range of academic and policy journals as well as a number of edited volumes. He has conducted field research and large-scale policy evaluations in Afghanistan, Colombia, India, and Pakistan.

Shapiro received the 2016 Karl Deutsch Award from the International Studies Association, given to a scholar younger than 40 or within 10 years of earning a Ph.D. who has made the most significant contribution to the study of international relations. He is an Associate Editor of Journal of Conflict Resolution, World Politics, and Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, a Faculty Fellow of the Association for Analytic Learning about Islam and Muslim Societies (AALIMS), a Research Fellow at the Center for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP), and an Associate Fellow of the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives (IDEAS). Ph.D. Political Science, M.A. Economics, Stanford University. B.A. Political Science, University of Michigan. Prior to graduate school Shapiro served in the United States Navy.

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