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Testing the anarchy tenet : an empirical analysis of the anarchy-cooperation and anarchy-conflict relationships

University of British Columbia

This research tests the validity and accuracy of the hypothesis which asserts that changes in levels of anarchy are positively associated with changes in levels of conflict and negatively associated with changes on cooperation. A model of anarchy as a variable is constructed with neorealist assumptions about the character of states and environment in which they exist. The model utilizes two variables, the similarity of states' ends and the similarity of states' means, to construct a variable which measures anarchy. The synthesis of these two variables yields the anarchy variable. After developing the theoretical framework which justifies the use of the similarity of ends and the similarity of means as measures for anarchy, anarchy's relationship to cooperation and conflict is tested. The hypothesis is tested with parallel analyses of data from the Behavioral Correlates of War and International Crisis Behavior data sets. Using nonparametric tests of significance and association, the research concludes that the test hypothesis is not accurate and must be rejected. Results show that hypothesized cooperation and conflict relationships to anarchy are not valid or accurate, and that different types of cooperation and conflict have different relationships to anarchy. These results provide empirical results which undermine neorealist assertions about anarchy and its consequences, as well as theories of inter-state cooperation whose foundation is built on the idea that an erosion of anarchy will increase inter-state cooperation. Aside from the empirical analyses and results, an important feature of the research is the development of anarchy as a measurable empirical variable.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-04-17

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7304

Political Science

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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