Abstract Armed groups rely on recruitment to sustain their organizations, yet most research on forced recruitment focuses on children. Far less attention has been given to the coercive recruitment of adults, even though adults constitute the majority of rebel members. This article introduces the Coercive Recruitment of Adults Dataset (CROAD), a new cross-sectional dataset covering 390 rebel organizations active in civil wars between 1990 and 2021 that use coercion to recruit adults. CROAD features two forms of coercive recruitment (forced recruitment and conscription), records public pledges to end these practices, and includes additional variables. The dataset can be easily combined with other data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP). This article introduces the dataset, presents descriptive statistics, replicates a study on forced recruitment and wartime rape, and highlights avenues for future research.
Nina Maureen Cadorin (Wed,) studied this question.