Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-fnl2l Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-14T08:53:54.390Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Democracy and the Peaceful Settlement of International Conflict

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

William J. Dixon
William J. Dixon
Affiliation:
University of Arizona
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The research reported here develops an explanation for the often-noted absence of international war between democratic states. This explanation is derived from a theoretical rationale centered on universal democratic norms for reconciling competing values and interests. I argue that democratic states locked in disputes are better equipped than others with the means for diffusing conflict situations at an early stage before they have an opportunity to escalate to military violence. Not only is this explanatory logic consistent with the published findings on democracy and war, but it also entails the novel empirical proposition that disputes between democracies are more amenable than are other disputes to peaceful settlements, the hypothesis I examine here. Analyses of contemporary interstate disputes reveal that even when potentially confounding factors are controlled, democratic opponents are significantly more likely to reach peaceful settlements than other types of disputants.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 88 , Issue 1 , March 1994 , pp. 14 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Alker, Hayward R., and Midlarsky, Manus I.. 1985. “International Disputes Data: A Comparison of Approaches and Products.” International Studies Notes 12:1–9.Google Scholar
Alker, Hayward R., and Sherman, Frank L.. 1982. “Collective Security-seeking Practices since 1945.” In Managing International Crises, ed. Frei, Daniel. Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
Alker, Hayward R., and Sherman, Frank L.. 1986. “International Conflict Episodes, 1945–1979.” Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, Ann Arbor. Data file and codebook.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Axelrod, Robert. 1986. “An Evolutionary Approach to Norms.” American Political Science Review 80:1095–113.Google Scholar
Bercovitch, Jacob. 1992. “The Structure and Diversity of Mediation in International Relations.” In Mediation in International Relations, ed. Bercovitch, Jacob and Rubin, Jeffrey Z.. New York: St. Martin's.Google Scholar
Bercovitch, Jacob, Anagnoson, J. Theodore, and Wille, Donnette L.. 1991. “Some Conceptual Issues and Empirical Trends in the Study of Successful Mediation in International Relations.” Journal of Peace Research 28:7–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloomfield, Lincoln P., and Leiss, Amelia C.. 1969. Controlling Small Wars. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Bollen, Kenneth A. 1991. “Political Democracy: Conceptual and Measurement Traps.” In On Measuring Democracy, ed. Inkeles, Alex. New Brunswick: Transaction.Google Scholar
Bremer, Stuart A. 1992. “Dangerous Dyads: Conditions Affecting the Likelihood of Interstate War, 1816–1965.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 36:309–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bremer, Stuart A. 1993. “Democracy and Militarized Interstate Conflict, 1816–1965.” International Interactions 18:231–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, and Lalman, David. 1992. War and Reason: Domestic and International Imperatives. New Haven: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butterworth, Robert Lyle. 1978. “Do Conflict Managers Matter?” International Studies Quarterly 22:195–214.Google Scholar
Butterworth, Robert Lyle. 1980. Managing Interstate Conflict, 1975–1979: Data with Synopses. Unpublished Final Report to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.Google Scholar
Butterworth, Robert Lyle, and Scranton, Margaret E.. 1976. Managing Interstate Conflict, 1945–74: Data with Synopses. Pittsburgh: University Center for International Studies.Google Scholar
Chan, Steve. 1984. “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…: Are Freer Countries More Pacific?” Journal of Conflict Resolution 28:617–48.Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert A. 1971. Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Dixon, William J. 1984. “Interdependence of Foreign Policy Behavior.” International Interactions 11:61–85.Google Scholar
Dixon, William J. 1993. “Democracy and the Management of International Conflict.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 37:42–68.Google Scholar
Dixon, William J., and Moon, Bruce E.. 1993. “Political Similarity and American Foreign Trade Patterns.” Political Research Quarterly 46:5–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Domke, William K. 1988. War and the Changing Global System. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Doyle, Michael W. 1986. “Liberalism and World Politics.” American Political Science Review 80:1151–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ember, Carol R., Ember, Melvin, and Russett, Bruce. 1992. “Peace Between Participatory Polities: A Cross-National Test of the ‘Democracies Rarely Fight Each Other’ Hypothesis.” World Politics 44:573–99.Google Scholar
Gochman, Charles S. 1991. “Interstate Metrics: Conceptualizing, Operationalizing, and Measuring the Geographic Proximity of States since the Congress of Vienna.” International Interactions 17:93–112.Google Scholar
Gochman, Charles S., and Maoz, Zeev. 1984. “Militarized Interstate Disputes, 1816–1976.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 29:585–615.Google Scholar
Gurr, Ted Robert. 1974. “Persistence and Change in Political Systems 1800–1971.” American Political Science Review 68:1481–1504.Google Scholar
Gurr, Ted Robert, Jaggers, Keith, and Moore, Will H.. 1989. “Polity II Codebook.” University of Colorado, Boulder, Mimeo.Google Scholar
Gurr, Ted Robert, Jaggers, Keith, and Moore, Will H.. 1990. “The Transformation of the Western State.” Studies in Comparative International Development 25:73–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haas, Ernst B. 1968. Collective Security and the Future International System. Denver, CO: University of Denver Press.Google Scholar
Haas, Ernst B. 1983. “Regime Decay: Conflict Management and International Organizations, 1945–1981.” International Organization 37:236–41.Google Scholar
Haas, Ernst B. 1986. Why We Still Need the United Nations. Policy Papers in International Affairs, no. 26. Berkeley: Institute of International Studies.Google Scholar
Haas, Ernst B., Butterworth, Robert Lyle, and Nye, Joseph S.. 1972. Conflict Management by International Organizations. Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press.Google Scholar
Lakatos, Imre. 1970. “Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes.” In Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, ed. Lakatos, Imre and Musgrave, Alan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lake, David A. 1992. “Powerful Pacifists: Democratic States and War.” American Political Science Review 86:24–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lauden, Laurence. 1977. Progress and Its Problems. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Leng, Russell J. 1993. “Reciprocating Influence Strategies in Interstate Crisis Bargaining.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 37:3–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipset, Seymour Martin. 1959. “Some Social Requisites of Democracy.” American Political Science Review 53:69–105.Google Scholar
Maoz, Zeev, and Abdolali, Nasrin. 1989. “Regime Types and International Conflict: 1815–1976.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 33:3–35.Google Scholar
Maoz, Zeev, and Russett, Bruce M.. 1992. “Alliances, Wealth, Contiguity, and Political Stability: Is the Lack of Conflict between Democracies a Statistical Artifact?” International Interactions 17:245–67.Google Scholar
Maoz, Zeev, and Russett, Bruce M.. 1993. “Normative and Structural Causes of Democratic Peace, 1946–1986.” American Political Science Review 87:624–38.Google Scholar
Merritt, Richard L., and Zinnes, Dina A.. 1991. “Democracies and War.” In On Measuring Democracy, ed. Inkeles, Alex. New Brunswick: Transaction.Google Scholar
Miall, Hugh. 1992. The Peacemakers: Peaceful Settlement of Disputes since 1945. New York: St. Martin's.Google Scholar
Mintz, Alex, and Geva, Nehemia. 1993. “Why Don't Democracies Fight Each Other? An Experimental Assessment of the ‘Political Incentive’ Explanation.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 37:484–503.Google Scholar
Morgan, T. Clifton, and Campbell, Sally Howard. 1991. “Domestic Structures, Decisional Constraints, and War.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 35:187–211.Google Scholar
Morgan, T. Clifton, and Schwebach, Valerie. 1992. “Take Two Democracies and Call Me in the Morning: A Prescription for Peace?” International Interactions 17:305–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Opp, Karl-Dieter. 1982. “The Evolutionary Emergence of Norms.” British Journal of Social Psychology 21:139–49.Google Scholar
Powell, G. Bingham. 1982. Contemporary Democracies. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ray, James Lee. 1993. “Wars between Democracies: Rare or Nonexistent?” International Interactions 18:251–76.Google Scholar
Raymond, Gregory A. 1992. “Democracies and Disputes: A Comparison of International Arbitration and Mediation.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago.Google Scholar
Rummel, Rudolph J. 1979. War, Power, Peace. Vol. 4 of Understanding Conflict and War. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Rummel, Rudolph J. 1983. “Libertarianism and International Violence.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 27:27–71.Google Scholar
Russett, Bruce M. 1990. Controlling the Sword. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russett, Bruce M. 1993. Grasping the Democratic Peace. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Schmitter, Philippe C., and Karl, Terry Lynn. 1991. “What Democracy Is … and Is Not.” Journal of Democracy 1991:75–88.Google Scholar
Sherman, Frank L. N.d. “Sherfacs: A Cross-Paradigm, Hierarchical, and Contextually Sensitive Conflict Dataset.” International Interactions. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Singer, J. David. 1988. “Reconstructing the Correlates of War Data Set on Material Capabilities of States, 1816–1985.” International Interactions 14:115–32.Google Scholar
Siverson, Randolph M., and Emmons, Juliann. 1991. “Birds of a Feather: Democratic Political Systems and Alliance Choices in the Twentieth Century.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 35:285–306.Google Scholar
Siverson, Randolph M., and Starr, Harvey. 1991. The Diffusion of War. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skjelsbæk, Kjell. 1986. “Peaceful Settlement of Disputes by the United Nations and Other Intergovernmental Bodies.” Cooperation and Conflict 21:139–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Small, Melvin, and Singer, J. David. 1969. “Formal Alliances, 1816–1965: An Extension of the Basic Data.” Journal of Peace Research 3:257–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Small, Melvin, and Singer, J. David. 1976. “The War-proneness of Democratic Regimes.” Jerusalem Journal of International Relations 1:50–69.Google Scholar
Starr, Harvey. 1992. “Democracy and War: Choice, Learning, and Security Communities.” Journal of Peace Research 29:207–13.Google Scholar
Wang, Kevin, Chang, Noh Soon, and Ray, James Lee. 1992. “Democracy and the Use of Force in Militarized Disputes.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago.Google Scholar
Weede, Erich. 1984. “Democracy and War Involvement.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 28:649–64.Google Scholar
Weede, Erich. 1992. “Some Simple Calculations on Democracy and War Involvement.” Journal of Peace Research 29:377–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, Quincy. 1942. A Study of War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.