IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/intare/v25y2022i1p50-72.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Interstate Rivalries and Expansions in Military Capacity

Author

Listed:
  • Prashant Hosur Suhas
  • Shelli Israelsen

Abstract

This article addresses the scholarly debate on the relationship between interstate rivalry and military capacity. We draw on Tilly's bellicist theory of state formation in early modern Europe and Thies’ modifications to predatory theory, which prioritizes the role of interstate rivalry on state building, to explain variation in military capacity. We unpack the rivalry mechanism into spatial and positional rivalries and test how these two types of rivalry affect military capacity, and how positional rivalries affect military capacity in the long-term. Using time-series cross-sectional data analysis, we find that positional rivalries increase military capacity in the long term. Also, we find that spatial rivalry influences military capacity in the long-term, but its effects are uneven across indicators of military capacity, and it has a smaller effect on military capacity in comparison to positional rivalries. We conclude that not all types of rivalries have a uniform effect on military capacity and that competition over regional dominance, that is, positional rivalries, are the most impactful on military capacity. This study offers a more nuanced test of Tilly's bellicist theory and Thies’ modified predatory theory on state capacity.

Suggested Citation

  • Prashant Hosur Suhas & Shelli Israelsen, 2022. "Interstate Rivalries and Expansions in Military Capacity," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 25(1), pages 50-72, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:intare:v:25:y:2022:i:1:p:50-72
    DOI: 10.1177/22338659211040289
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/22338659211040289
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/22338659211040289?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. Timothy Besley & Torsten Persson, 2009. "The Origins of State Capacity: Property Rights, Taxation, and Politics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(4), pages 1218-1244, September.
    2. D. Scott Bennett & Allan C. Stam, 2000. "Eugene : A conceptual manual," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(2), pages 179-204, March.
    3. Beck, Nathaniel & Katz, Jonathan N., 1995. "What To Do (and Not to Do) with Time-Series Cross-Section Data," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(3), pages 634-647, September.
    4. Cohen, Youssef & Brown, Brian R. & Organski, A. F. K., 1981. "The Paradoxical Nature of State Making: The Violent Creation of Order," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 75(4), pages 901-910, December.
    5. Rasler, Karen A. & Thompson, William R., 1985. "War Making and State Making: Governmental Expenditures, Tax Revenues, and Global Wars," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 79(2), pages 491-507, June.
    6. Fearon, James D. & Laitin, David D., 2003. "Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 97(1), pages 75-90, February.
    7. Kentaro Sakuwa & William R Thompson, 2019. "On the origins, persistence and termination of spatial and positional rivalries in world politics: Elaborating a two-issue theory of conflict escalation," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 203-225, September.
    8. Desch, Michael C., 1996. "War and strong states, peace and weak states?," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(2), pages 237-268, April.
    9. Gary Uzonyi & Toby Rider, 2017. "Determinants of Foreign Aid: Rivalry and Domestic Instability," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(2), pages 272-299, March.
    10. Milner, Helen V. & Kubota, Keiko, 2005. "Why the Move to Free Trade? Democracy and Trade Policy in the Developing Countries," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 59(1), pages 107-143, January.
    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. Alou Adessé Dama, 2021. "Exploring Tilly’s Theory : Violent Conflicts and Tax Revenue in Sub-Saharan Africa," CERDI Working papers hal-03401539, HAL.
    2. Indra de Soysa & Eric Neumayer, 2004. "False Prophet, or Genuine Savior? Assessing the Effects of Economic Openness on Sustainable Development, 1980–1999," International Trade 0409001, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 13 Oct 2004.
    3. de Soysa, Indra & Neumayer, Eric, 2005. "False Prophet, or Genuine Savior? Assessing the Effects of Economic Openness on Sustainable Development, 1980–99," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 59(3), pages 731-772, July.
    4. Saakshi Jha & Sunny Bhushan & Nupur Nirola, 2024. "Is geopolitical risk always detrimental to economic growth?," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1-31, April.
    5. Agustín Goenaga & Oriol Sabaté & Jan Teorell, 2023. "The state does not live by warfare alone: War and revenue in the long nineteenth century," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 393-418, April.
    6. Fuhai Hong & Dong Zhang, 2023. "Bureaucratic beliefs and law enforcement," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 196(3), pages 357-379, September.
    7. Silve, Arthur & Verdier, Thierry, 2018. "A theory of regional conflict complexes," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 434-447.
    8. Thiemo Fetzer & Pedro C. L. Souza & Oliver Vanden Eynde & Austin L. Wright, 2021. "Security Transitions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(7), pages 2275-2308, July.
    9. Mehrdad Vahabi, 2017. "A critical survey of the resource curse literature through the appropriability lens," CEPN Working Papers 2017-14, Centre d'Economie de l'Université de Paris Nord.
    10. James Ron, 2005. "Paradigm in Distress?," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 49(4), pages 443-450, August.
    11. Jacqueline H.R. DeMeritt & Joseph K Young, 2013. "A political economy of human rights: Oil, natural gas, and state incentives to repress1," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 30(2), pages 99-120, April.
    12. Matthew Fuhrmann & Jaroslav Tir, 2009. "Territorial Dimensions of Enduring Internal Rivalries," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 26(4), pages 307-329, September.
    13. Alessandro Olper & Jan Fałkowski & Johan Swinnen, 2014. "Political Reforms and Public Policy: Evidence from Agricultural and Food Policies," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 28(1), pages 21-47.
    14. Idean Salehyan, 2008. "The Externalities of Civil Strife: Refugees as a Source of International Conflict," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(4), pages 787-801, October.
    15. Yue, Jiahua & Zhou, Shangsi, 2018. "Democracy’s comparative advantage: Evidence from aggregated trade data, 1962–2010," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 27-40.
    16. Timothy Besley & Torsten Persson, 2010. "State Capacity, Conflict, and Development," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(1), pages 1-34, January.
    17. Saima SARWAR* & M. Wasif SIDDIQI**, 2018. "AN ATTEMPT TO CRYSTALIZE THE BLACK-BOX MYSTERY: Institutional Quality or Constitutional Rights," Pakistan Journal of Applied Economics, Applied Economics Research Centre, vol. 28(1), pages 103-130.
    18. Daron Acemoglu & Davide Ticchi & Andrea Vindigni, 2010. "Persistence of Civil Wars," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 8(2-3), pages 664-676, 04-05.
    19. Olper, Alessandro & Raimondi, Valentina, 2008. "Consitutional Rules and Agricultural Policy Outcomes," 2008 International Congress, August 26-29, 2008, Ghent, Belgium 43870, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Daron Acemoglu & Camilo García-Jimeno & James A. Robinson, 2015. "State Capacity and Economic Development: A Network Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(8), pages 2364-2409, August.

    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:intare:v:25:y:2022:i:1:p:50-72. 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://www.hufs.ac.kr/user/hufsenglish/re_1.jsp .

    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.