The Effects of Strategic and Economic Interdependence on International Conflict Across Levels of Analysis

Abstract

This study develops a Social Network Analytic approach to conceptualize and measure interdependence across levels of analysis. This framework contains several innovations. First, it integrates "sensitivity interdependence"-the effects of changes in one state on other states-with "vulnerability interdependence"-the opportunity costs of breaking a relationship. Second, it measures interdependence at different levels of analysis and across multiple relationships. Third, it integrates multiple dimensions of interdependence into a single measure. I derive hypotheses from the realist and liberal paradigms regarding the effects of strategic and economic interdependence on monadic, dyadic, and systemic conflict. These hypotheses are tested via data on alliances, military capability, and trade. The findings provide robust support to the expectations of the liberal paradigm regarding the effects of strategic and economic interdependence on conflict. On the other hand, the expectations of the realist paradigm are not supported. I discuss the theoretical and empirical implications of this approach.

Measuring Mutual Dependence between State Repressive Actions

“…Recently, international relations scholars have begun to employ methods from the social network tool kit in order to examine the relationships that structure the international state system (Brewington, Davis and Murdie, 2007;Corbetta, 2007;Maoz, 2009). Scholars also use network methods to link together conceptual elements such as decisions from the Supreme Court of the United States, which are connected by judicial citations (Fowler et al, 2007;Fowler and Kam, 2008).…”

Centrality in Trade Networks and Investment in Security

“…It shows that by increasing the density of alliances, international trade makes countries less vulnerable to attack and reduces their incentives to attack an ally. In the same spirit, a number of recent quantitative studies on the impact of trade on conflict have started to emphasize a more integrative concept of interdependence which goes beyond dyadic interactions (see Maoz 2009). Dorussen and Ward (2010), for example, show how extradyadic ties can be regarded as channels of communication and social capital.…”

Flexible Causal Inference for Political Science

“…Carrubba, Yuen and Zorn 2007), selection bias (Sartori, 2003;von Stein, 2005;Boehmke, Morey and Shannon, 2006;Chiba, Martin and Stevenson, 2014), split-population or partial-observability models (Xiang, 2010;Braumoeller and Carson, 2011), zero-inflated or rare events data (King and Zeng, 2001;Bagozzi, Hill, Moore and Mukherjee, 2015), network analysis (Dorussen and Ward, 2008;Hafner-Burton and Kahler, 2009;Maoz, 2009;Cranmer, Desmarais and Menninga, 2012), and more.…”