Minorities at Risk

Minorities At Risk (MAR) is a university-based research project that monitors and analyzes the status and conflicts of 283 politically-active communal groups in many countries throughout the world from 1945 to 2006. Those minorities included have been deemed politically significant, meaning that the group collectively suffers or benefits from systematic discriminatory treatment at the hands of other societal groups and the group is the foundation of political mobilization and collective action in defense or promotion of self-defined interests. MAR seeks to identify where the groups are located, what they do, and what happens to them. The project is designed to provide information in a standardized format that aids comparative research and contributes to the understanding of conflicts involving relevant groups. The MAR project was initiated by Ted Robert Gurr in 1986 and has been based at the University of Maryland's Center for International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM) since 1988.

The dataset does not include all minority groups across the world. There are specific requirements that limit the number of groups analyzed. Below are the seven database rules that must be met:

MAR groups are categorized into six groups which refer to the populations’ past and current struggles on the basis of racial/historical/ethnical variances from the majority population of their country.

1. Ethnonationalist: regionally concentrated peoples with a history of organized political autonomy with their own state, traditional ruler, or regional government who have supported political movements for autonomy at some time since 1945.

2. Indigenous: conquered descendants of earlier inhabitants of a region who live primarily in conformity with traditional social, economic, and cultural customs that are sharply distinct from those of dominant groups.

3. Ethnoclass: ethnically or culturally distinct, usually descended from slaves or immigrants, most of whom occupy a distinct social and economic stratum or niche.

4. Communal Contender: culturally distinct peoples, tribes, or clans in heterogeneous societies who hold or seek a share in state power.

-Disadvantaged: subject to some degree of political, economic, or cultural discrimination but lack offsetting advantages

-Advantaged: those with political advantage over other groups in their society

-Dominant: those with a preponderance of both political and economic power

5. Religious Sect: communal groups that differ from others principally in their religious beliefs and related cultural practices, and whose political status and activities are centered on the defense of their beliefs.

...
Wikipedia