Militarism and Foreign Conflict Behavior: A Quantitative Study Revisited.
Abstract
Considerable information has been written about the phenomenon known as militarism; however, little or no quantitative research has been used to investigate it. This study surveyed the political, cultural and economic qualities of nations and used seven 1978 indicators to profile the militaristic nature of 139 nations in 1978 and 1979. Since the study's thesis is that nations characterized as militaristic will act more aggressively in their foreign conduct, conflict behavior for these same nations is ascertained and the results manipulated by various statistical techniques. It was found that militarism can best be understood by the economic and social attributes of a nation since the political variables correlated very poorly with foreign conflict. Although an attempt was made to predict future conflict, the results were not conclusive. Concluding observations include that militarism can be quantified and with the use of computer models, future foreign conflict can be determined for certain nations. The results are encouraging, but mixed, and further quantitative research into the mystery of militarism is warranted. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 20, 1982
- Accession Number
- ADA118835
Entities
People
- David G. Hansen
Organizations
- United States Army War College