Networks of military alliances, wars, and international trade
Abstract
The incidence of interstate wars has dropped dramatically over time: The number of wars per pair of countries per year from 1950 to 2000 was roughly a 10th as high as it was from 1820 to 1949. This significant decrease in the frequency of wars correlates with a substantial increase in the number of military alliances per country and the stability of those alliances. We show that one possible explanation of this is an accompanying expansion of international trade. Increased trade decreases countries’ incentives to attack each other and increases their incentives to defend each other, leading to a stable and peaceful network of military and trade alliances that is consistent with observed data.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Dec 14, 2015
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.1520970112
Entities
People
- Matthew O. Jackson
- Stephen Nei
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Army Research Office
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
- Division of Social and Economic Sciences
- Santa Fe Institute
- Stanford University