Refugees welcome? Introducing a new dataset on anti-refugee violence in Germany, 2014-2015

Abstract

The recent rise of xenophobic attacks against refugees in Germany has sparked both political and scholarly debates on the drivers, dynamics, and consequences of right-wing violence. Thus far, a lack of systematic data collection and data processing has inhibited the quantitative analysis to help explain this social phenomenon. This paper introduces a new georeferenced event dataset on anti-refugee violence and social unrest in Germany in 2014 and 2015 based on a public chronicle. Our dataset includes information of 1645 events of four different types of right-wing violence and social unrest: demonstrations, assault, arson attacks, and miscellaneous attacks against refugee housing. After discussing how the dataset was constructed, we offer a descriptive analysis of patterns of right-wing violence and unrest in Germany in 2014 and 2015. We conclude by outlining preliminary ideas on how the dataset can be used in future research.