Citation

Hunter LY, Robbins JW. Confl. Secur. Dev. 2016; 16(3): 219-243.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Kings College, Center for Defence Studies, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/14678802.2016.1179450

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Recent work on conflict suggests that electoral systems impact foreign policy-making in important ways; however, the discipline has reached different conclusions regarding how different types of electoral systems affect conflict initiation. In this study we contend that legislators are more accountable individually in candidate-centred electoral systems which impacts a state's decision to initiate interstate conflict. We test our argument using a time-series cross-sectional analysis of 54 democracies from 1975 to 2001. The results provide strong support for the hypothesis that candidate-centred electoral systems result in less conflict initiation than party-centric systems due to higher levels of individual accountability for legislative members.

Language: en