The Strauss Center’s program on Complex Emergencies and Political Stability in Asia (CEPSA) explores the causes and dynamics of complex emergencies in Asia and options for building government capacity to prevent and respond to such situations. CEPSA researchers were active over the summer conducting field research, producing new data on Asian political violence, tracking international aid for disaster response and climate change adaptation, and producing new vulnerability maps.

The program’s conflict tracking led by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) now releases monthly updates to 2015 data on political violence in Asia, and ACLED has begun back-dating conflict data to cover events occurring in the region before 2015. ACLED-Asia also began publishing quarterly Asian Conflict Trends reports, with the latest one issued just last week. The conflict reports are available here.

CEPSA researcher and LBJ School of Public Affairs Assistant Research Professor Jason Cons investigated the landscape of climate programming and policy with field research in Bangladesh and India in May. During that time, he was able to not only discuss climate and disaster programs with senior and country-level directors from a range of organizations, but also participate in policy meetings where early-draft policies on climate change, migration, and disaster were being publically evaluated. The interviews and public meetings attended on the trip will provide crucial data for research carried out in partnership with CEPSA researcher Paula Newberg on the security impacts of climate change in transborder regions in South Asia.

ACLED Asia data manager and recent LBJ School graduate Sarah Kaiser-Cross traveled to New Delhi, India in May to broaden ACLED’s access to local data sources, to initiate cooperation between other organizations, and to gain insight into local conflict trends. The trip helped establish new contacts with important military, academic, and government leaders in India as well as expand ACLED’s access to data sources.

CEPSA researcher and LBJ School Associate Professor Kate Weaver spent the summer tracking and analyzing disaster aid data. The research tracks the climate components of disaster-related projects and analyzes these projects in terms of their relative focus on preparedness, response, or recovery. This fall, an additional three undergraduate and three graduate students with contribute to the coding effort, primarily focusing coding and analyzing aid projects in Bangladesh.

To follow CEPSA research and publications in the semester ahead, check in regularly to the CEPSA program website.