J. David Singer will be remembered as the pioneer of conflict and peace studies who insisted on empirical evidence for theoretical statements as epitomized by his “Correlates of War” project, if not for the charm, wit, and sense of humor with which he led his life.
David Singer was one of the group of social scientists who helped launch the new field of conflict analysis – as well as the Journal of Conflict Resolution – at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in the mid 1950s. However, unlike many of the others in that extraordinary group – Kenneth and Elise Boulding, Herb Kelman, Dean Pruitt, Richard Snyder – all of whom moved on, David stayed on at UMich and helped to make it one of the key centers of scholarship for the new field.
Although he could write with wit, knowledge and insight about arms control, strategic issues, social science methodology, and conflict and peace research in general, David Singer was best known for his work on the “Correlates of War” project. Building on the earlier work of Quincy Wright and on Wright’s massive (and pre-computer) Study of War, David and historian Melvin Small, determined that the theoretical assertions of international relations (“balance of power”) theorists tended to be anecdotal at best and in need of testing against systematically gathered, comparative data. In the “Correlates of War” Project, Singer and Small set out to gather together carefully defined, carefully categorized and carefully measured data on all wars and war related phenomena (alliances, military expenditures, and demographics) post-1815, in order to see what actually correlated with the various types of war that had take place during the period after Napoleon.
Facing criticism from traditional historians as well as from some of his own colleagues in the field -- who were happy at the hypothesis proposing aspects of theory, but unwilling to go to the data collection and hypothesis testing stage -- David defended his ideas and resultant findings with gusto and much humor. He was always ready to criticize -- robustly but constructively -- the tendency of many colleagues to make generalizations based upon the study of one or two cases. He once described this methodology as exemplified by such statements as: “All Indians always walk in single file. I know, because the one I saw did !” He needed to see many more Indians before he was convinced of the argument.
The "CoW" project continues at the University of Illinois to this day, and its influence endures in its many off-springs, not least in the Conflict Data Program at Uppsala University and their annual “States in Armed Conflict” reports.
In many ways, "Dave" Singer’s legacy to the field also survives; he was constantly requiring that conflict and peace studies should proceed on the basis of clarity of argument, rigor of definition and -- above all -- the support of empirical evidence for theoretical statements. His many colleagues will miss his critical eye, friendly dissent and huge sense of humor. The long video interview with him for the “Parents of the Field” project, will give a new generation some measure of him as a scholar and as a generous human being.
JB/CRM
