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A Quality of Government Peace? Explaining the Onset of Militarized Interstate Disputes, 1985--2001

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  • Jan Teorell

Abstract

That democracies do not wage wars against each other is one of the most widely accepted claims within the study of international relations, although challenged lately by the capitalist peace argument. In addition to confirming both the democratic and capitalist peace effects, this article finds that the impact of quality of government—that is, having an impartial, nonpoliticized, and noncorrupt bureaucracy—on the risk of interstate conflict is at least on par with the influence of democracy. This result draws on dyadic Militarized Interstate Disputes (MIDs) data in 1985--2001 and holds even under control for incomplete democratization and economic development, as well as for fatal MIDs, the Cold War era, and within politically relevant dyads. I argue that the causal mechanism underlying this finding is that quality of government reduces information uncertainty among potentially warring parties and improves their ability to credibly commit to keeping their promises. Both democratic and capitalist peace theory needs to be complemented by theories “bringing the state back in” to the study of interstate armed conflict.

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  • Jan Teorell, 2015. "A Quality of Government Peace? Explaining the Onset of Militarized Interstate Disputes, 1985--2001," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(4), pages 648-673, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ginixx:v:41:y:2015:i:4:p:648-673
    DOI: 10.1080/03050629.2015.1023434
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    1. Acemoglu,Daron & Robinson,James A., 2009. "Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521671422, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bernhard Reinsberg & Alexander Kentikelenis & Thomas Stubbs & Lawrence King & Centre for Business Research, 2018. "The World System & the Hollowing-out of State Capacity: How Structural Adjustment Programs Impact Bureaucratic Quality in Developing Countries," Working Papers wp503, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.

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