IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/compsc/v26y2009i5p411-436.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Primed to Fight

Author

Listed:
  • Zeev Maoz

    (University of California, Davis, USA and Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel)

Abstract

Ample empirical evidence suggests that there exist structural differences between groups of states in terms of conflict involvement rates. A small group of states accounts for most conflicts and wars in international politics. Another group of states managed to avoid conflict involvement for most of their history. These results are not surprising; they match the expectations of both experts and laypersons regarding the future of conflict in international politics. This study offers two tentative explanations for these structural patterns of conflict proneness and pacifism. Both explanations view these differential rates of conflict involvement as a result of a national selection process. The can syndrome suggests that certain states fight repeatedly because they view violent conflict as an efficient and effective instrument of policy. The must syndrome suggests that some states feel that conflict is their only way of dealing with a threatening international environment. I provide evidence supporting both explanations and discuss their implications for international politics.

Suggested Citation

  • Zeev Maoz, 2009. "Primed to Fight," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 26(5), pages 411-436, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:compsc:v:26:y:2009:i:5:p:411-436
    DOI: 10.1177/0738894209343976
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0738894209343976
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0738894209343976?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lake, David A., 1992. "Powerful Pacifists: Democratic States and War," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 86(1), pages 24-37, March.
    2. Zeev Maoz & Randolph M. Siverson, 2008. "Bargaining, Domestic Politics, and International Context in the Management of War: A Review Essay," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 25(2), pages 171-189, April.
    3. Siverson, Randolph M. & Starr, Harvey, 1990. "Opportunity, Willingness, and the Diffusion of War," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 84(1), pages 47-67, March.
    4. Branislav L. Slantchev, 2004. "How Initiators End Their Wars: The Duration of Warfare and the Terms of Peace," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(4), pages 813-829, October.
    5. Harvey Starr & G. Thomas, 2002. "The 'Nature' of Contiguous Borders: Ease of Interaction, Salience, and the Analysis of Crisis," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 213-235, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anderton,Charles H. & Carter,John R., 2009. "Principles of Conflict Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521875578, December.
    2. Zeev Maoz & Randolph M. Siverson, 2008. "Bargaining, Domestic Politics, and International Context in the Management of War: A Review Essay," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 25(2), pages 171-189, April.
    3. Philip Arena, 2008. "Success Breeds Success? War Outcomes, Domestic Opposition, and Elections," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 25(2), pages 136-151, April.
    4. William J. Dixon & Paul D. Senese, 2002. "Democracy, Disputes, and Negotiated Settlements," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 46(4), pages 547-571, August.
    5. Adamson, Jordan, 2020. "Political institutions, resources, and war: Theory and evidence from ancient Rome," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    6. Jacob Ausderan, 2018. "Reassessing the democratic advantage in interstate wars using k-adic datasets," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 35(5), pages 451-473, September.
    7. A. J. Enterline, 1998. "Regime Changes, Neighborhoods, and Interstate Conflict, 1816-1992," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 42(6), pages 804-829, December.
    8. Scott Sigmund Gartner, 2008. "Secondary Casualty Information: Casualty Uncertainty, Female Casualties, and Wartime Support," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 25(2), pages 98-111, April.
    9. Yuleng Zeng, 2020. "Bluff to peace: How economic dependence promotes peace despite increasing deception and uncertainty," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 37(6), pages 633-654, November.
    10. Cullen S. Hendrix, 2014. "Oil Prices and Interstate Conflict Behavior," Working Paper Series WP14-3, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    11. Bruce Bueno De Mesquita & Randolph M. Siverson, 1997. "Nasty or Nice?," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 41(1), pages 175-199, February.
    12. David Brulé, 2006. "Congressional Opposition, the Economy, and U.S. Dispute Initiation, 1946-2000," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 50(4), pages 463-483, August.
    13. Häfner, Samuel, 2017. "A tug-of-war team contest," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 372-391.
    14. David B Carter, 2017. "History as a double-edged sword," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 16(4), pages 400-421, November.
    15. Johannes Urpelainen, 2012. "How Does Democratic Accountability Shape International Cooperation?," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 29(1), pages 28-55, February.
    16. Michelle R. Garfinkel, 2010. "Political Institutions and War Initiation: The Democratic Peace Hypothesis Revisited," Working Papers 101107, University of California-Irvine, Department of Economics.
    17. Kenneth Benoit, 1996. "Democracies Really Are More Pacific (in General)," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 40(4), pages 636-657, December.
    18. Paul F. Diehl, 2006. "Just a Phase?: Integrating Conflict Dynamics Over Time," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 23(3), pages 199-210, July.
    19. Dong-Joon Jo & Erik Gartzke, 2007. "Determinants of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 51(1), pages 167-194, February.
    20. Arye Hillman & Niklas Potrafke, 2015. "The UN Goldstone Report and retraction: an empirical investigation," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 247-266, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:compsc:v:26:y:2009:i:5:p:411-436. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://pss.la.psu.edu/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.