Are Military Regimes Really Belligerent

Bibliographic Data

ID6285705
AuthorsNam Kyu Kim (0000-0003-0621-4192, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume62
Issue6
Pages1151-1178
Publication date2018-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Conflict Resolution (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0027 • E-ISSN: 1552-8766
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0022002716684626
OpenAlexW2541285409
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited50

Does military rule make a state more belligerent internationally? Several studies have recently established that military autocracies are more likely than civilian autocracies to deploy and use military force in pursuit of foreign policy objectives. I argue that military regimes are more likely to resort to military force because they are located in more hostile security environments, and not because they are inherently aggressive. First, I show that rule by military institution is more likely to emerge and exist in states facing external territorial threats. Second, by examining the relationship between military autocracies and conflict initiation, I find that once I control for states’ territorial threats, the statistical association between military regimes and conflict initiation disappears. Additionally, more evidence suggests that civilian dictatorships are more conflict-prone than their military counterparts when I account for unobserved dyad heterogeneity. The results are consistent across different measures of international conflict and authoritarian regimes

Authoritarianism · Autocracy · Belligerent · Democracy · Development economics · Dictatorship · Dyad · Economics · International law · Military science · Military theory · Military threat · Political economy · Political science · Sociology · State (computer science · Use of force · International Development and Aid · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Psychology · Social Psychology

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