Peace Between Participatory Polities: A Cross-Cultural Test of the “Democracies Rarely Fight Each Other” Hypothesis

Ember, Carol R.; Ember, Melvin; Russett, Bruce

doi:10.2307/2010488

Cited by 114 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Although the theoretical literature is far from in agreement about the effect of democracy on conflict (e.g., contrast Waltz, 1959with Doyle, 1986, the empirical results, with few exceptions, do support the proposition that democracy reduces interstate conflict (Babst, 1972;Bremer, 1992a;Chan, 1984;Dixon, 1989;Ember, Ember, Russett, 1992;Maoz and Abdolali, 1989;Morgan and Campbell, 1991;Morgan and Schwebach, 1991;Ray, 1992;Rummel, 1983;Russett and Antholis, 1991;Small and Singer, 1976).…”

Section: Democracymentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Numerous studies (Babst, 1972;Chan, 1984;Dixon, 1989;Ember, Ember, and Russett, 1992;Maoz and Abdolali, 1989;Morgan and Campbell, 1991;Morgan and Schwebach, 1991;Ray, 1992;Rummel, 1983;Russett and Antholis, 1991;Small and Singer, 1976), employing a variety of approaches, methods, and indicators of democracy have found the war-inhibiting effects of democracy. Some have seized upon this finding with religious fervor and trumpeted to the world that if all states were democratic, war would cease to plague mankind.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Democracy and militarized interstate conflict, 1816–1965

Bremer

1993

International Interactions

201

119

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An investigation of the relationship between "joint democracy" and militarized interstate conflict over the period 1816-1965 at the dyadic level confirms the inhibitory effect of democracy reported by others. This effect is weaker with respect to less violent types of interstate conflict than with wars but significant nevertheless. This supports the argument that the lower level of conflict among democratic states is mainly due to the way in which they manage serious conflicts with one another rather than to the avoidance of serious conflict. The conflict-reducing nature of "joint democracy" is present and strong even after controlling for the effects of geographical proximity, relative power, alliance, power status, development, militarization, and the presence of a hegemon. This leads to the conclusion that it is highly unlikely that the relationship found is a spurious one.

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Section: Democracymentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democracy and militarized interstate conflict, 1816–1965

Bremer

1993

International Interactions

201

119

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“…These studies include Moaz and Abdolali (1989), Levy (1989), Morgan and Campbell (1991), Morgan and Schwebach (1991), Siverson and Emmons (1991), Ray (1992), Ember et al (1992), Bremer (1992aBremer ( , 1992b, Russett and Antholis (1992), Moaz and Russett (1993), Bremer (1993), and Farber and Gowa (1994). Noteworthy among these studies is the consistency of the findings; so much so that Levy (1989, p. 270) called the "democracies rarely fight" phenomena a "law," and Bremer indicated that a panel of leading political scientists "gave unanimous support to the proposition" (Bremer, 1992b, p. 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Democracies Cooperate More and Fight Less: The Relationship Between International Trade and Cooperation

Polachek

1997

Rev International Economics

142

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This paper provides an economics-based interpretation of the standard finding in the literature that democracies rarely fight each other. A general theory of conflict between two countries is presented and empirical analysis applies this theory to the question of why democracies rarely fight each other. The results show that the fundamental factor in causing bilateral cooperation is trade. Countries seek to protect wealth gained through international trade, therefore trading partners are less combative than nontrading nations. Democratic dyads trade more than nondemocratic dyads, and thus exhibit less conflict and more cooperation.

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“…67. See Ember, Ember, andRussett 1992;and Russett 1993, chap. 5. these institutional effects by contrasting the warlike Marshallese Islanders, who were ruled by a stratified hereditary elite with absolute life-and-death powers over their subjects, to the peaceful Cuna Indians of Panama, whose elected chiefs could be sacked at any time by popular demand.…”

Section: Institutional Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anarchy and Culture: Insights from the Anthropology of War

Snyder¹

2002

Int Org

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Some prominent scholars and public activists contend that a fundamental change in the nature of world politics can be brought about through efforts to change prevailing culture, norms, and ideas. In this view, behavior in anarchy is what the prevailing culture makes of it, since social reality is, in Alexander Wendt's words, “ideas almost all the way down.” Anthropologists studying the causes of war in pre-industrial anarchies have tested this hypothesis extensively. Their research shows that war behavior cannot be reduced to either material factors or culture alone. Rather, material, institutional, and cultural elements must all be taken into account simultaneously in assessing an anarchical society's propensity for war and in designing strategies to promote change. Models of nested causality or of interaction effects between variables can sometimes capture these causal interrelationships, but they cannot capture nonlinear system effects that often play a prominent role. Patterns found in anthropological research can serve as a heuristic for understanding the democratic peace and processes of contemporary international cultural change.

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Peace Between Participatory Polities: A Cross-Cultural Test of the “Democracies Rarely Fight Each Other” Hypothesis

Cited by 114 publications

References 25 publications

Democracy and militarized interstate conflict, 1816–1965

Democracy and militarized interstate conflict, 1816–1965

Why Democracies Cooperate More and Fight Less: The Relationship Between International Trade and Cooperation

Anarchy and Culture: Insights from the Anthropology of War

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