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Obituary: J. David Singer
J. David Singer
J. David Singer, lecturer in political science and researcher for peace, died on 28 December 2009 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, home of the university at which he had taught for decades. Singer was the creator of an original and ongoing project in 1963: the Correlates of War project, which was established to use the accumulated scientific material on war. With the help of the historian Melvin Small, Singer began the project by gathering very precise and meticulous series of data on the prevalence and scope of inter-state wars and extra-systemic wars since the post-Napoleonic era. By doing so, and in the face of conceptual difficulties such as defining "state" and "war", they continued the work of the fathers of research for peace - pioneers such as Pitirim Sorokin, Lewis Frye Richardson and Quincy Wright. The first major result was the book by Singer and Small, The Wages of War, a book published in 1972 which established a definition of war which is still essential reading today. Today, the Correlates of War database is still one of the most comprehensive and frequently used databases on armed conflicts. We at the ICIP would like to express our condolences, and once again, our admiration for his constant, committed and consistent work.
Finding out more:
Web personal de Singer
Web de 'Correlates of War'