IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jocore/v68y2024i10p2101-2127.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Boys and Their Toys: Status Inconsistency in Non-democratic Regimes and the Import of Major Weapon Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Richard A.I. Johnson
  • Aaron P. Shreve

Abstract

Major weapon system imports are significant as they are useful for domestic and international security. However, states regularly imported weapons they want in addition to weapons they need. One explanation is that states import unnecessary weapons to gain status. We argue that states suffering from higher levels of negative status inconsistency (SI) import a greater proportion of status symbol weapons. To account for differing security motives, we also separate non-democratic regime types – strongman, junta, boss, and machine – as they vary in their international conflict propensity and domestic stability. Due to the differences across these regimes, we further argue that non-democratic personalist regimes will import more status symbol weapons. Using data covering 1965–1999, we find that negatively status inconsistent regimes import more status symbol weapons.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard A.I. Johnson & Aaron P. Shreve, 2024. "Boys and Their Toys: Status Inconsistency in Non-democratic Regimes and the Import of Major Weapon Systems," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 68(10), pages 2101-2127, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:jocore:v:68:y:2024:i:10:p:2101-2127
    DOI: 10.1177/00220027231220021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00220027231220021
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00220027231220021?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
    ---><---

    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:68:y:2024:i:10:p:2101-2127. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.