This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Rasler, K. Articles by Thompson, W. R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Rivalries and the Democratic Peace in the Major Power Subsystem

William R. Thompson

Department of Political Science, Indiana University

Strategic rivalry dyads facilitate conflict, while democratic dyads constrain conflict. Which effect is more powerful? Examining conflict (militarized disputes and war) in the major power subsystem (1816-1992), both types of relationships are statistically significant predictors of conflict, and both employed together are more powerful than either used separately. Of the two, rivalry information provides the more powerful predictor, but this explanatory advantage is eroding over time. Mixed dyads are also found to be more conflictual than either autocratic or democratic dyads. There are implications for monadic and systemic interpretations of the democratic peace that receive brief mention, but the main implication is that we need to be careful about not giving too much credit to regime type alone for bringing about more pacific interactions in dyadic relations. Domestic institutions operate within external environments that condition their effects on foreign policies. To best explain conflict, we need information on both domestic and external environments.

Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 38, No. 6, 659-683 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/0022343301038006002


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. J. Hewitt A Crisis-Density Formulation for Identifying Rivalries Journal of Peace Research, March 1, 2005; 42(2): 183 - 200. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. COLARESI and W. R. THOMPSON Strategic Rivalries, Protracted Conflict, and Crisis Escalation Journal of Peace Research, May 1, 2002; 39(3): 263 - 287. [Abstract] [PDF]