18th Annual Student Research Conference
Social Science
Regime Types, Transitions, and Conflict Proneness of Authoritarian States: 1950-2002
Katherine F. Haggans
Dr. John Ishiyama, Faculty Mentor
A considerable amount of scholarly attention has been paid to how democratic institutions affect the conflict proneness of states (Chan, 1997). Research has consistently demonstrated that democracies are less likely to go to war with each other when compared to other states (Oneal and Russett 1997; Ray 1995; Rousseau et al. 1996). Despite this abundance of literature, very little has been written regarding the relationship between different types of authoritarian states and conflict. What little work there is has tended to examine the propensity of authoritarian states to engage in conflict in dyadic relations with other states. Further, little empirical work has examined how transitions from authoritarian rule affect the conflict propensity of states. How do authoritarian institutions affect the conflict propensity of these states? Do transitions from authoritarian rule make a state less likely to engage in conflict? These questions are addressed using data from 117 states from 1950-2002 to assess the effect of authoritarian institutions on the likelihood of a state being involved in a militarized dispute.
Keywords: authoritarian states, regime types, conflict propensity, interstate disputes
Topic(s):Political Science
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 45-4
Location: VH 1416
Time: 3:00