Measures of Foreign Policy Similarity (FPSIM) dataset
The similarity of states’ foreign policy positions is a standard variable in the quantitative, dyadic analysis of international relations. Recent studies routinely rely on Signorino and Ritter’s (1999) S to assess the similarity of foreign policy ties. However, S neglects two fundamental characteristics of the international state system: foreign policy ties are relatively rare and individual states differ in their innate propensity to form such ties. Two chance-corrected agreement indices, Scott’s (1955) π and Cohen’s (1960) κ, represent viable alternatives. Both indices adjust the dyadic similarity score for a large number of common absent ties. Cohen’s κ also takes into account differences in individual dyad members’ total number of ties. The resulting similarity scores have stronger face validity than S. A comparison of their empirical distributions and several replication studies demonstrate that the different types of measures are not substitutable.
Description and comparison of measures (please cite when using the dataset)
Dataset
The FPSIM dataset includes Ritter & Signorino's S, Scott's π, and Cohens κ as measures of foreign policy similarity, based on alliance and UN voting data. To replicate the generation of the dataset from the original data sources in Stata, follow the instructions in the replication archive for the above article to generate the intermediate datasets and then merge them with this do-file into a single file. If you are using the data management software EUGene, you can incorporate the dataset as 'user data' by saving the CSV data file and the EUGene configuration file into your local "user data sets" subdirectory (normally "c:\program files\eugene\ user data sets").
Coverage, sources, and coding of input variables for dataset
References