Project history: 'Integrating fact databases in the field of International Relations and Security’

Facts and hard data have always played an important role in the reporting of internationally critical events, in researching causes of conflicts and in the shaping of new policies in international relations. The dawn of the Internet created opportunities to access such data more rapidly and from many sources. However, in the mid 90’s, when the Internet began to form a global network, no set-up was organized to make these data available to the International Relations (IR) community in an efficient way.

At the 1996 conference on 'Institutes and the Security Dialogue' organized by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) the first discussions where held on the need for cooperation among institutes on a facts database system. At that time the Internet was a major source of information in political science, international relations and international security. However, electronic publishing had so far only focused on unstructured material such as working papers, individual publications, legal material etc.¹ Very few projects dealt with structured fact databases, although the electronic media in general and the Internet in particular offered excellent opportunities to present such data to a worldwide audience.

When data were available users had to obtain these facts and statistics through various Internet sites, with different search functions and varying levels of accessibility. Moreover, there was no way to assess the quality of the retrieved information unless the researcher was already an expert in the field. A working group at the Geneva conference chaired by Alyson J.K. Bailes therefore prepared some recommendations to overcome this information gap. One major recommendation was to organize a separate conference on the subject. Mandated by the plenary of the conference and financed by the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport in February 1997, SIPRI hosted the workshop ‘Common databases in the field of International Relations and Security. Models and solutions for organizing issue-relevant information processing and the cooperation between institutes'.

A follow-up workshop was organized by the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at the ETH, Zürich in November 1997. The conclusion from both meetings was clear: there was a need for a better organized and integrated factual reference system on the Internet. The integration was to be accomplished without loss of credit or information control for the participating institutions, which is why a federated system of individual databases accessed through a single user platform was the most suitable solution.

Both workshops also identified the need for a portlet on such structured information. The participating organizations showed broad support and their will to cooperate in such an endavour. Consequently, a pilot project was - in cooperation with the CSS - launched at SIPRI in late 1997. The objectives of the pilot project were to test the feasibility of a federated fact database system and to conduct a survey to establish the data needs of the IR community.

During the pilot project a first prototype database of a factual reference system was created in which several independent, reputable databases in different geographical locations were integrated with each other. A country profile approach for data retrieval was used where data from different sources were presented on one output page containing the country's international security indicators, such as data on military expenditure, arms transfers and arms industry, involvement in conflicts, multilateral agreements and so on. The other major task of the pilot project, the survey submitted to researchers, journalists and political decision makers, clearly indicated an urgent need for an Internet resource with a collection of hard data in the field of international relations and security, an integrated factual reference system.

The pilot project was successfully concluded in October 1998 and its findings were presented at the 3rd International Security Forum. The results were so encouraging that a process was started to extend the existing system. Also, the international relations community responded in such a positive way that several new partners joined the efforts. The lessons learned and experiences gained in the pilot project phase staked out the path for a further broadening of the system, both regarding the number of participating institutions and the approaches to data retrieval.

At this point we had transformed this prototype into a professional and more comprehensive system, the Facts on International Relations and Security Trends.

Workshops

• The Stockholm Workshop, 7-8 February 1997
• The 1st Zürich Workshop, 6-8 November 1997
• The 2nd Zürich Workshop, 19-21 October 1998

Papers

• Information needs and database use in the field of International Relations and Security (PDF)
  Gerd Hagmeyer-Gaverus
• Common databases and the cooperation between institutes
  Gerd Hagmeyer-Gaverus
• Computer Access the Arms Sales Database Internet Information: Doing Better with What We Have (PDF)
  David Isenberg
• Design for an International Relations and Security Information System
  Gerd Hagmeyer-Gaverus
• Project Profile ISN-LASE
  Stephan Libiszewski

¹ As an attempt to facilitate the use of the Internet by individuals for research purposes, ISN had established a links database with an affiliated 'limited area' search engine (ISN LASE)