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How Do Commercial Institutions Promote Peace?

Author

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  • David H. Bearce
  • Sawa Omori

    (Department of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh)

Abstract

The commercial institutional peace research program has provided empirical evidence that such regional institutions help reduce the incidence of militarized interstate conflict. But it remains unclear how regional commercial institutions produce their observed pacific effect. This article examines three different causal arguments to explain the commercial institutional peace. First, commercial institutions simply increase the economic opportunity costs of war for the state. Second, some commercial institutions provide information to member-states about the military capabilities of other institutional participants, which may make their bargaining for peace more efficient. Third, many commercial institutions bring high-level state leaders together on a regular basis, building trust to overcome certain commitment problems in international bargaining. The statistical results show empirical support for only the third explanation. Commercial institutions with more organs for high-level state leaders demonstrate a substantively strong and statistically significant effect in reducing the outbreak of military conflict. But commercial institutions with deeper economic integration and nested military–security structures are not associated with less military conflict. Together, these results suggest that the observed commercial institutional peace does not stem from economic integration per se, but rather from certain institutional structures that often accompany the regional integration process. Thus, the commercial institutional peace appears more related to the third leg of the Kantian tripod (international organizations) than to the second leg (international commerce).

Suggested Citation

  • David H. Bearce & Sawa Omori, 2005. "How Do Commercial Institutions Promote Peace?," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 42(6), pages 659-678, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:joupea:v:42:y:2005:i:6:p:659-678
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    Cited by:

    1. Anderton,Charles H. & Carter,John R., 2009. "Principles of Conflict Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521875578, December.
    2. John Forrer, 2009. "Locating Peace Through Commerce in Good Global Governance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 89(4), pages 449-460, March.
    3. Boehmer Charles & Corbetta Renato, 2016. "Hard International Law-Contributing Organizations as Networks," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 22(4), pages 413-426, December.
    4. Andreea Mariș & Sabina Irimie, 2011. "Haiti: Much Attention, No Results. Why Development Assistance Doesn’t Work," Annals of the University of Petrosani, Economics, University of Petrosani, Romania, vol. 11(3), pages 167-176.

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