This article looks conceptually and empirically at how international norms influence state behavior. Using the decolonization norm as an example, guidelines are developed for the conceptualization, measurement, and testing of international norms and their effects on state behavior. In...

In a large fraction of all cases where a state faces an immediate military threat, it chooses to respond without resort to the threat, display, or use of military force. We seek to account for this phenomenon of nonmilitary response and to assess the utility of this strategy. We present a series...

This article asks a new question: what are the processes that maintain rivalries? The authors argue that rivalries are maintained through the failure of realist strategies and conflict management ones. They focus on stalemate outcomes as both a signal that militarized strategies for dealing with...

Throughout history, conflict has more often been rooted in territorial concerns than abstract political goals. Drawing on new data, the article describes and classifies territorial changes involving at least one recognized nation-state over the period 1816-1980. Among the dimensions analyzed are...

International peacekeeping has undergone some dramatic changes in the past decade. This study represents what is one of the few systematic attempts to classify peacekeeping missions according to function. Yet the authors do not stop their investigation at this juncture. Using a theoretical...

This study investigates the validity of different indicators of resources allocated to the military that are commonly used in conflict research. The various indicators are first described and then evaluated on four criteria for face validity. The convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity...