IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jocore/v39y1995i2p224-262.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental Influences on Democracy

Author

Listed:
  • Manus I. Midlarsky

    (Rutgers University)

Abstract

The origins of autocracy in hydraulic civilization and the threat of war emerging from many land borders lead to an examination of two environmental sources of democracy—rainfall and sea borders. Karl Wittfogel's theory of Eastern autocracy arising from the need for centralized irrigation systems is generalized to include rainfall as a correlate of democracy. Findings concerning the absence of warfare between democracies are used to reverse the causal arrow and suggest that warfare is inimical to democratic development. Four ancient civilizations, Sumer, Mesoamerica, Crete, and China, are examined for the existence of early democracy and its inhibition by the onset of widespread warfare. Rainfall and sea borders as two dimensions of minimized environmental threat are tested systematically in a multivariate analysis, along with two societal variables, land inequality and economic development. The two environmental variables as well as the two societal variables are strongly associated with the political rights index, a measure of democracy. The additional and independent significance of a third societal variable, agricultural density, in one of the analyses, suggests connections with another theory of early democracy emerging from a technoecological perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Manus I. Midlarsky, 1995. "Environmental Influences on Democracy," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 39(2), pages 224-262, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:39:y:1995:i:2:p:224-262
    DOI: 10.1177/0022002795039002002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022002795039002002
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0022002795039002002?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. Doyle, Michael W., 1986. "Liberalism and World Politics," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 80(4), pages 1151-1169, December.
    2. Lake, David A., 1992. "Powerful Pacifists: Democratic States and War," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 86(1), pages 24-37, March.
    3. Hadenius,Axel, 1992. "Democracy and Development," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521416856.
    4. Lipset, Seymour Martin, 1959. "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy1," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(1), pages 69-105, March.
    5. Midlarsky, Manus I., 1988. "Rulers and the Ruled: Patterned Inequality and the Onset of Mass Political Violence," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(2), pages 491-509, June.
    6. Muller, Edward N. & Seligson, Mitchell A., 1987. "Inequality and Insurgency," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(2), pages 425-451, June.
    7. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226731445 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Manus I. Midlarsky, 1992. "The Origins of Democracy in Agrarian Society," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 36(3), pages 454-477, September.
    2. Michael Mousseau, 1998. "Democracy and Compromise in Militarized Interstate Conflicts, 1816-1992," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 42(2), pages 210-230, April.
    3. Vadlamannati, Krishna Chaitanya, 2008. "Socioeconomic, Institutional & Political Determinants Of Human Rights Abuses: A Subnational Study Of India, 1993 – 2002," MPRA Paper 10142, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Yong Glasure & Aie-Rie Lee & James Norris, 1999. "Level of economic development and political democracy revisited," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 5(4), pages 466-477, November.
    5. Sunde, Uwe & Fortunato, Piergiuseppe & Cervellati, Matteo, 2011. "Democratization and Civil Liberties: The Role of Violence During the Transition," CEPR Discussion Papers 8315, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Todd Landman, 2018. "Democracy and Human Rights: Concepts, Measures, and Relationships," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(1), pages 48-59.
    7. David H. Bearce & Eric O'N. Fisher, 2002. "Economic Geography, Trade, and War," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 46(3), pages 365-393, June.
    8. Michael Mousseau, 2005. "Comparing New Theory with Prior Beliefs: Market Civilization and the Democratic Peace," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 22(1), pages 63-77, February.
    9. Robbert Maseland & André Hoorn, 2011. "Why Muslims like democracy yet have so little of it," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 147(3), pages 481-496, June.
    10. Patrick M. Regan & Daniel Norton, 2005. "Greed, Grievance, and Mobilization in Civil Wars," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 49(3), pages 319-336, June.
    11. Ana Carolina Garriga, 2009. "Regime Type and Bilateral Treaty Formalization," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 53(5), pages 698-726, October.
    12. Patricia Justino, 2007. "Carrot or stick? Redistributive transfers versus policing in contexts of civil unrest," Research Working Papers 3, MICROCON - A Micro Level Analysis of Violent Conflict.
    13. Selim BAŞAR & Ali Çağlar GÜLLÜCE & Şaduman YILDIZ, 2009. "Effects of Economic Growth on Democratization in Transition Economies: A Panel Data Approach," Sosyoekonomi Journal, Sosyoekonomi Society, issue 2009-1.
    14. repec:bpj:pepspp:v:18:y:2012:i:3:p:16:n:2 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Ajide, Kazeem B. & Alimi, Olorunfemi Y., 2021. "Income inequality, human capital and terrorism in Africa: Beyond exploratory analytics," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 218-240.
    16. Brauner Jennifer, 2012. "Military Spending and Democratisation," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 18(3), pages 1-16, December.
    17. repec:pru:wpaper:18 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Gerald L. McCallister, 2016. "Beyond Dyads: Regional Democratic Strength’s Influence on Dyadic Conflict," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 295-321, March.
    19. Jeffry A. Frieden & David A. Lake, 2005. "International Relations as a Social Science: Rigor and Relevance," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 600(1), pages 136-156, July.
    20. Ragnhild Nordås, 2014. "Religious demography and conflict: Lessons from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana," International Area Studies Review, Center for International Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, vol. 17(2), pages 146-166, June.
    21. William Reed & David H. Clark, 2000. "War Initiators and War Winners," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 44(3), pages 378-395, June.
    22. Klaus Abbink & David Masclet & Daniel Mirza, 2018. "Inequality and inter-group conflicts: experimental evidence," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 50(3), pages 387-423, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:jocore:v:39:y:1995:i:2:p:224-262. 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.