Boys and Their Toys

Status Inconsistency in Non-democratic Regimes and the Import of Major Weapon Systems

Bibliographic Data

ID10071688
AuthorsRichard A I Johnson (0000-0002-9009-2986, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK, corresponding author), Aaron P Shreve (0000-0003-4533-6221, Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA, USA)
Year2023
Publication date2023-12-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Conflict Resolution (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0027 • E-ISSN: 1552-8766
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00220027231220021
OpenAlexW4389741452
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited79

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

Democracy · Development economics · Economics · International trade · Nuclear weapon · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Symbol (formal · Computer Science · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Political Conflict and Governance

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