Introducing students to the scientific study of peace and war, this exciting new reader provides an overview of important and current scholarship in this dynamic area of study. Focusing on the factors that shape relationships between countries and that make war or peace more likely, this collection of articles by top scholars explores such key topics as dangerous dyads, alliances, territorial disputes, rivalry, arms races, democratic peace, trade, international organizations, territorial peace, and nuclear weapons. Each article is followed by the editors’ commentary: a “Major Contributions” section highlights the article’s theoretical advances and relates each study to the broader literature, while a “Methodological Notes” section carefully walks students through the techniques used in the analysis. Methodological topics include research design, percentages, probabilities, odds ratios, statistical significance, levels of analysis, selection bias, logit, duration models, and game theory models.
KEY FEATURES:
- A focus on “dangerous dyads” helps students understand risk factors of war, such as relative power, alliances, arms races, territorial disputes, and poor economic conditions.
- The second half of the book builds on the democratic peace literature by identifying factors that improve long term chances for peace, such as democracy, trade, international organizations, nuclear weapons, and the settlement of border disputes.
- “Major Contributions” sections after each reading highlight the theoretical advances of each article and relate each study to the broader literature on the topic.
- “Methodological Notes” provide an easy-to-understand walkthrough of the methodological assumptions and techniques used in the analysis.
- End-of-chapter questions help students to master key concepts while additional reading lists point them to resources for further exploration.
Table of Contents
PART I. OVERVIEW
1. Introduction
Sara McLaughlin Mitchell and John A. Vasquez
2. Dangerous Dyads: Conditions Affecting the Likelihood of Interstate War, 1816-1965
Stuart A. Bremer
Major Contributions: Dangerous Dyads
Methodological Notes: Probabilities
PART II. DANGEROUS DYADS
3. Bones of Contention: Comparing Territorial, Maritime, and River Issues
Paul R. Hensel, Sara McLaughlin Mitchell, Thomas E. Sowers II, and Clayton L. Thyne
Major Contributions: Territorial Conflict
Methodological Notes: Log Odds, Logit Model, and Substantive Significance
4. Alliances and the Expansion and Escalation of Militarized Interstate Disputes
Brett Ashley Leeds
Major Contributions: Alliances
Methodological Notes: Selection Bias
5. The New Rivalry Dataset: Procedures and Patterns
James P. Klein, Gary Goertz, and Paul F. Diehl
Major Contributions: Rivalry
Methodological Notes: Percentages, Reliability, and Validity
6. The Outcomes of Military Buildups: Minor States vs. Major Powers
Susan G. Sample
Major Contributions: Arms Races
Methodological Notes: Statistical Significance and Control Variables
7. Assessing the Steps to War
Paul D. Senese and John A. Vasquez
Major Contributions: The Steps to War
Methodological Notes: Research Design and Measurement
8. Rivalry and Diversionary Uses of Force
Sara McLaughlin Mitchell and Brandon C. Prins
Major Contributions: Diversionary Theory
Methodological Notes: Interaction Terms and the GEE Model
PART III. PEACEFUL DYADS
9. The Kantian Peace: The Pacific Benefits of Democracy, Interdependence, and International Organizations, 1885-1992
John R. Oneal and Bruce Russett
Major Contributions: Democratic Peace
Methodological Notes: Levels of Analysis
10. Economic Interdependence: A Path to Peace or a Source of Interstate Conflict?
Katherine Barbieri
Major Contributions: Economic Interdependence
Methodological Notes: Missing Data
11. A Unified Statistical Model of Conflict Onset and Escalation
William Reed
Major Contributions: Power Preponderance
Methodological Notes: Selection (Censored Probit) Models
12. Bordering on Peace: Democracy, Territorial Issues, and Conflict
Douglas M. Gibler
Major Contributions: Territorial Peace
Methodological Notes
13. Proliferation and International Crisis Behavior
Victor Asal and Kyle Beardsley
Major Contributions: Nuclear Weapons
Methodological Notes: Ordered Logit Models
PART IV. OUTCOMES AND CONSEQUENCES OF WAR
14. The Precarious Nature of Peace: Resolving the Issues, Enforcing the Settlement, and Renegotiating the Terms
Suzanne Werner
Major Contributions: Enforcing Settlements
Methodological Notes: Duration (Weibull) Models
15. War and the Survival of Political Leaders: A Comparative Study of Regime Types and Political Accountability
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Randolph M. Siverson
Major Contributions: Leader Survival
Methodological Notes: Game Theory Models
Bio(s)
Sara McLaughlin Mitchell, University of Iowa
Sara McLaughlin Mitchell is professor of political science and Collegiate Scholar at the University of Iowa. She is coauthor with Emilia Justyna Powell of Domestic Law Goes Global (2011), associate editor of Foreign Policy Analysis, and co-founder of the Journeys in World Politics mentoring workshop for women in international relations.
John A. Vasquez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
John A. Vasquez, is the Thomas B. Mackie Scholar in International Relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The author of The War Puzzle Revisited (2009), he has served as president of the Peace Science Society (International) and the International Studies Association.
Ancillaries
Group project exercises give students the opportunity to engage in their own scientific study of international conflict by evaluating data on relevant factors such as military capabilities, regime type, nuclear weapons, and history of conflict to predict whether two countries will go to war. Four different fictitious scenarios are available, each including data sets, along with general instructions for students to complete the exercise. Instructors also have the support of project notes that provide background information on the data sets, as well as a sample completed paper and accompanying PowerPoint slides that discuss the findings to one of the exercises.
