Introducing the Concentration Camps (CCamps v1.0) dataset

Although the Nazi Holocaust provides the most expansive and resonant example of concentration camps in popular commentary and social science research, recent revelations regarding the detention and abuse of Uyghurs in camps in Xinjiang, China, as well as Ukrainian citizens in Russian-occupied Eastern Ukraine, reflect the persistence of this technology of mass violence. To gauge how common the use of this technology has been and to facilitate research into its comparative contexts, we introduce the Concentration Camps (CCamps) dataset. We first conceptualize concentration camp systems as bounded, irregular spaces housing targeted, resident civilian populations, whom camp administrators purposefully neglect, often force into labor, and sometimes kill en masse. Based upon this conceptualization, we describe the CCamps dataset, which surveys 150 camp systems administered globally between 1896 and 2018. Finally, we discuss some potential applications for this dataset in the literatures on conflict, peace, and repression.