Actor Types

The Intrace Corpus classifies actors into distinct types to enable precise filtering and analysis. Actor types are used as query parameters to filter results when listing actors.

Overview

Actor types are used to categorize entities involved in events. The classification system covers:

Government and state actors
Military and security forces
Political organizations and parties
Non-state armed groups
Criminal organizations
Civil society and activist groups
Media and press
International organizations
Corporations and businesses
Individuals

Using Actor Types in Queries

List Actors by Type

import requests

# Get all government actors
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.corpus.intrace.ai/v1/actors",
    headers={"X-API-Key": "your-api-key"},
    params={"actor_type": "state_government"}
)

Discover Available Actor Types

Use the metadata endpoint to see all actor types currently in the corpus:

# Get all actor types with counts
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.corpus.intrace.ai/v1/metadata/actor-types",
    headers={"X-API-Key": "your-api-key"}
)
actor_types = response.json()

Actor Type Definitions

The following actor types are commonly found in the corpus. Use the metadata endpoint above to get the current complete list with counts.

State & Government

National Government: Federal/central government bodies
Regional Government: State, provincial, or regional authorities
Local Government: Municipal or local government entities
Government Agency: Specific government departments or agencies
Law Enforcement: Police, national guard, and law enforcement bodies
Military: Armed forces and military organizations
Intelligence Agency: Intelligence and security services

Political Organizations

Political Party: Registered political parties and movements
Political Coalition: Alliances of political parties
Opposition Group: Opposition political movements

Armed Groups

Rebel Group: Armed opposition forces
Militia: Non-state armed militias
Paramilitary: Paramilitary organizations
Terrorist Organization: Designated terrorist groups

Criminal Organizations

Cartel: Drug cartels and trafficking organizations
Gang: Street gangs and organized crime groups
Mafia: Traditional organized crime syndicates

Civil Society

NGO: Non-governmental organizations
Activist Group: Civil society and activist movements
Labor Union: Trade unions and labor organizations
Religious Group: Religious organizations and movements

Media & Press

Media Outlet: News organizations and media companies
Journalist: Individual journalists and correspondents

International

International Organization: UN, regional bodies (AU, EU, etc.)
Foreign Government: Governments of other nations
Multinational Alliance: NATO, coalitions, etc.

Corporate

Corporation: Private companies and businesses
Industry Group: Industry associations and lobbying groups

Individual

Individual: Named individuals (politicians, activists, etc.)
Unknown: Unidentified or unattributed actors

Actor Hierarchy

Events, particularly conflict events, often involve multiple actors in different hierarchical positions. The Corpus API distinguishes between internal organizational units and external supporting actors:

Position Types

Principal: Primary actor in the event (mapped to actor1 in ACLED format)
Secondary: Secondary or opposing actor (mapped to actor2 in ACLED format)
Sub-Principal/Sub-Secondary: Internal sub-units, factions, or branches within the same organization
Supporting Principal/Supporting Secondary: External actors from different organizations providing support

Key Distinction: Internal vs External

Internal Sub-Actors (sub_principal/sub_secondary):

Part of the same organization as the main actor
Examples: military divisions, battalions, regional branches, factions within a group
Use case: “Nigerian Army” (principal) with “7th Division” and “3rd Battalion” as sub-principal actors

External Supporting Actors (supporting_principal/supporting_secondary):

Separate organizations providing support to the main actor
Examples: foreign military support, allied groups, coalition partners
Use case: “Colombian Army” (principal) with “U.S. Special Forces” as supporting_principal providing training

Examples

Example 1: Military operation with foreign support

Principal: Nigerian Army
Sub-Principal: 7th Division, 3rd Battalion
Supporting Principal: French Air Force, U.S. Military Advisors

Secondary: Boko Haram
Sub-Secondary: Shekau Faction
Supporting Secondary: null

Example 2: Rebel coalition

Principal: Free Syrian Army
Sub-Principal: Southern Front, Damascus Brigade
Supporting Principal: Turkish Armed Forces

Secondary: Syrian Arab Army
Sub-Secondary: 4th Armored Division, Republican Guard
Supporting Secondary: Russian Aerospace Forces, Hezbollah

Example 3: Inter-cartel violence

Principal: Sinaloa Cartel
Sub-Principal: Los Chapitos Faction
Supporting Principal: null

Secondary: Jalisco New Generation Cartel
Sub-Secondary: Elite Group
Supporting Secondary: null

See the Event Data Models page for complete field specifications and export format details.

Actor Attributes

Institution Stance

The institution_stance field describes the actor’s orientation toward established governmental and state institutions. It is set by AI during actor canonicalization and may be overridden manually.

Value	Description
`pro_institution`	Supports existing state authority and institutional structures
`anti_institution`	Actively opposes state authority and institutional structures
`neutral`	No clear alignment toward or against state institutions
`unknown`	Insufficient information to determine institutional stance

Filtering Events by Actor Type

The events endpoint does not filter directly by actor type, but you can combine the actors and actor events endpoints to achieve this efficiently:

Find actors of a specific type (supports multi-value and numeric range filters)
Get events for those actors (supports full event filter and sort surface)

# Step 1: Find all rebel group actors in a country with event activity
actors_response = requests.get(
    "https://api.corpus.intrace.ai/v1/actors",
    headers={"X-API-Key": "your-api-key"},
    params=[
        ("actor_type", "rebel_group"),
        ("actor_type", "militia"),
        ("country", "SY"),
        ("event_count_min", "5"),
    ]
)
actors = actors_response.json()["items"]

# Step 2: Get filtered, sorted events for a specific actor
for actor in actors:
    events_response = requests.get(
        f"https://api.corpus.intrace.ai/v1/actors/{actor['id']}/events",
        headers={"X-API-Key": "your-api-key"},
        params={
            "event_category": "conflict",
            "date_from": "2025-01-01",
            "salience_score_min": "0.5",
            "sort_by": "salience_score",
            "sort_order": "desc",
        }
    )
    events = events_response.json()

The /actors/{id}/events endpoint accepts the same filter and sort parameters as /events, so you can narrow results without client-side filtering. ← Back to Taxonomy Overview

GET STARTED

EVENT TAXONOMY

REFERENCE

Actor Types Reference

Actor Types

Overview

Using Actor Types in Queries

List Actors by Type

Discover Available Actor Types

Actor Type Definitions

State & Government

Political Organizations

Armed Groups

Criminal Organizations

Civil Society

Media & Press

International

Corporate

Individual

Actor Hierarchy

Position Types

Key Distinction: Internal vs External

Examples

Actor Attributes

Institution Stance

Filtering Events by Actor Type

​Actor Types

​Overview

​Using Actor Types in Queries

​List Actors by Type

​Discover Available Actor Types

​Actor Type Definitions

​State & Government

​Political Organizations

​Armed Groups

​Criminal Organizations

​Civil Society

​Media & Press

​International

​Corporate

​Individual

​Actor Hierarchy

​Position Types

​Key Distinction: Internal vs External

​Examples

​Actor Attributes

​Institution Stance

​Filtering Events by Actor Type

Actor Types

Overview

Using Actor Types in Queries

List Actors by Type

Discover Available Actor Types

Actor Type Definitions

State & Government

Political Organizations

Armed Groups

Criminal Organizations

Civil Society

Media & Press

International

Corporate

Individual

Actor Hierarchy

Position Types

Key Distinction: Internal vs External

Examples

Actor Attributes

Institution Stance

Filtering Events by Actor Type