By: Steven V. Miller Clemson University, Jaroslav Tir Â鶹ӰԺ, and John A. Vasquez Illinios University 

Orignial Publication: May 2010 

Online Publication: Dec 2017

Abstract: 

Traditional, structural theories of international relations may have eschewed the importance of geography and territory to understanding international conflict, but the past 50 years of quantitative scholarship have returned geography and territory to the fore of the discipline. The importance of geography and territory to the study of international conflict first emerged in the discipline of political geography and the early foundations of peace science. Subsequent empirical analyses demonstrated a robust connection between geography, particularly disputed territory, and all phases of inter-state conflict. Explanations for this robust relationship emerged concurrent to the empirical findings. The theoretical arguments are eclectic and focus on territoriality as human instinct, the tangible and intangible value of territory, and whether conflict over territory conforms well to implications from the bargaining framework. Though traditionally the domain of inter-state conflict scholars, civil conflict scholarship has greatly informed this research program on geography, territory, and conflict by expanding and enriching its theoretical arguments and empirical implications. The future of territorial conflict scholarship should focus on reconciling different theoretical arguments about the emergence of peace after World War II, wrestling with the future of territorial conflict as more territorial disputes are settled, providing richer data on territorial claims, and exploring the implications of global climate change for future conflict over scarce and changing waterways and maritime/river boundaries.

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By: Jennifer Wolak Â鶹ӰԺ

Published: 20 July 2017 

Abstract:

What makes people feel influential in politics? While prior studies describe political efficacy as a stable and socialized trait, I argue that feelings of effectiveness in politics follow from the actions of politicians and the design of government. When state governments afford citizens opportunities for voice and deliver desired policy outcomes, I expect that citizens feel more politically effective. Using a set of unique items from the 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, I investigate how factors like policy congruence, descriptive representation,

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• Dissertation: Judicial Reform Amid Violence in Latin America
• Committee: David S. Brown (Chair), Vanessa Baird, Carew Boulding, Andy Baker, and Hilary Potter (Ethnic Studies)
• Major Fields: Public Policy
• Ph.D. 2017
• Founder and Principal Researcher,

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• Dissertation: The Ethics of Precaution: Taking Responsibility for Uncertain Threats of Environmental Harm
• Committee: Benjamin Hale (Chair), David Mapel, J. Samuel Fitch, Krister Andersson, William Boyd
• Major Fields: Political Theory, International Relations, and Environmental Policy
• Ph.D. 2017
• Assistant Teaching Professor, Leeds School of Business

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• Dissertation: Insulating for Investment: Regulatory Institutions and the Multinational Firm in Infrastructure Industries
• Committee: David Bearce (Chair), Andy Baker, Moonhawk Kim, Megan Shannon, Adrian Shin
• Major Fields: International Relations, Comparative Politics, Methods
• Ph.D. 2017
• Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations, 

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Stojek, Szymon and Jaroslav Tir. 2015. “The Supply Side of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Trade Ties and Locations of UN Led Deployments.” European Journal of International Relations 21(2): 352-376.

Abstract:

Peacekeeping operations have been identified as the most effective and efficient solution to the highly intractable problem of civil war recurrence; yet, only about 38% of civil wars receive peacekeeping assistance. To explain what determines whether an intrastate conflict receives a deployment of peacekeepers, we note that peacekeeping operations are costly endeavors requiring significant material investments. Focusing on the United Nations and its peacekeeping operations, we argue that because a relatively small group of states decides about (and funds) possible deployments, the supply of United Nations peacekeeping operations likely reflects the interests of these states. Specifically, we hypothesize that trade ties between the five permanent members of the Security Council and civil war states are among the factors that influence the decision to authorize United Nations peacekeeping operations. Testing the argument over the post-World War II and post-Cold War periods reveals that the economic interests of the permanent five members of the Security Council play a key role in explaining which civil wars receive United Nations peacekeepers.

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Tir, Jaroslav and Shane P. Singh. 2015."Get Off My Lawn: Territorial Civil Wars and Subsequent Social Intolerance in the Public." Journal of Peace Research 52(4): 478-491.

Abstract:

It is argued that threat related to territorial civil wars generates negative interpersonal attitudes that are both more intense and more broadly oriented than previously thought. That is, civil wars fought over issues of autonomy or secession foment social intolerance, a broad orientation that extends well beyond members of former enemy groups to an aversion to interpersonal differences in general. The expectation that the issue the civil war is fought over is consequential is tested with data from the World Values Survey and the UCDP/PRIO Armed Conflict Dataset. The empirical domain consists of over 130,000 individuals across 123 surveys in 69 countries over the 1989–2008 period. Results from multilevel models indicate a positive and statistically significant relationship between domestic territorial conflicts and subsequent social intolerance. Substantively, territorial civil wars have a far greater impact on individuals’ attitudes than do ‘standard’ correlates of social intolerance that are well established in the literature. Further, non-territorial civil war is unrelated to attitudes of social intolerance. Empirical results are robust to several model specifications and are not a mere artifact of the potential reverse relationship, whereby intolerant societies are (erroneously) presumed to be at a higher risk of civil wars in the first place. The findings have implications for the understanding of civil war resolution, civil war reoccurrence, and the contextual correlates of interpersonal intolerance.

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Singh, Shane P. and Jaroslav Tir. 2017. “Partisanship, Militarized International Conflict, and Electoral Support for the Incumbent.” Political Research Quarterly.

Abstract:

Comparative politics scholarship often neglects to consider how militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) shape political behavior. In this project, we advance an argument that considers voter responses to international conflict at the individual level. In particular, we consider how the well-known conditioning effects of partisanship manifest in relation to militarized international conflict. Examining individual- and macro-level data across 97 elections in 42 countries over the 1996-2011 period, we find consistent evidence of militarized conflict impacting vote choice. This relationship is, however, moderated by partisanship, conflict side (initiator or target), and conflict hostility level. Among non-copartisan voters, the incumbent benefits the most electorally from initiating low-hostility MIDs or when the country is a target of a high-hostility MID; the opposite scenarios (target of a low-hostility MID or initiator of a high-hostility MID) lead to punishment among this voter group. Copartisans, meanwhile, tend to either maintain or intensify their support in most scenarios we examine; when a country is targeted in a low-hostility MID, copartisan support erodes mildly. 

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• Dissertation: Privatization and Local Democracy: The Causes of Privatized Service Delivery and its Consequences on Local Democratic Politics
• Committee: Jennifer Wolak (Chair), Kenneth Bickers, Sokhey, Harden Visiting
• Major fields: American Politics, Methods, and Public Policy
• Ph.D. 2017
• Assistant Professor of Political Science,

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Lisa Dilling, Elise Pizzi, John Berggren, Ashwin Ravikumar, Krister Andersson

Abstract:

Cities are key sites of action for adaptation to climate change. However, there are a wide variety of responses to hazards at the municipal level. Why do communities take adaptive action in the face of weather- and climate-related risk? We studied what cities are doing in response to existing natural hazards, such as floods, droughts, and blizzards as an analog for understanding the drivers of adaptive behavior toward climate change risks. We conducted a survey of 60 U.S. municipalities followed by six in-depth case studies in the intermountain west states of Colorado, Wyoming and Utah that regularly experience weather and climate extreme events. Our analysis shows that perception of risk and external factors such as planning requirements and availability of funding stand out as important drivers. Nevertheless, political action is rarely driven by a single factor or event. Overall, our results suggest that multiple factors interact or act in combination to produce an enabling environment for action in the face of weather- and climate-related risk.

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