There is More to the Story than 'Us-Versus-Them': Expanding the Study of Interstate Conflict and Regime Type Beyond a Dichotomy

This research presents a new categorical indicator of regime type that is more comprehensive than the dichotomous indicator currently used in most research. My measure distinguishes among the different types of democratic and non-democratic regimes found in the international system between 1800 and 2002. After presenting an extensive overview of the literature from international relations and comparative politics, I discuss the conceptualization and development of the new measure of regime type and then use the new measure in conjunction with the existing Correlates of War Militarized Interstate Dispute data to analyze the conflict escalation propensity of territorial disputes initiated by different types of regimes. In keeping with previous research, I find territorial disputes to be the very contentious. However, not all types of states are equally likely to escalate disputes over territory, suggesting that part of the puzzle surrounding these contentious conflicts might be solved by taking a closer look at the domestic politics within states.