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Settled Borders and Regime Type: Democratic Transitions as Consequences of Peaceful Territorial Transfers

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  • Douglas M. Gibler
  • Jaroslav Tir

Abstract

Research arguing that external threats determine regime type has generally failed to provide systematic evidence in favor of the peace‐to‐democracy hypothesis. We suspect that the lack of confirmatory findings is likely driven by conflating the concepts of negative (absence of conflict) and positive (mutual trust and cooperation) peace. By focusing on territorial issues and the phenomenon of peaceful state‐to‐state territorial transfers (i.e., peaceful alteration of borders), we are able to observe the effects of replacing territorial threat stemming from negative territorial peace (or territorial rivalry) with the positive territorial peace associated with legitimate, mutually accepted borders. Our findings support the expectations that peaceful territorial transfers remove active and latent territorial threat and lead to demilitarization and democratization. Importantly, peaceful territorial transfers are not endogenous to regime type. Our study therefore supports an alternative explanation for the democratic peace: both democracy and peace may be a function of settling territorial threats.

Suggested Citation

  • Douglas M. Gibler & Jaroslav Tir, 2010. "Settled Borders and Regime Type: Democratic Transitions as Consequences of Peaceful Territorial Transfers," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(4), pages 951-968, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:54:y:2010:i:4:p:951-968
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5907.2010.00473.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Kentaro Sakuwa, 2017. "The Regional Consequences of Territorial Disputes: An Empirical Analysis of the South China Sea Disputes," Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, , vol. 4(3), pages 316-336, December.
    2. David B. Carter & H. E. Goemans, 2014. "The temporal dynamics of new international borders," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 31(3), pages 285-302, July.
    3. Brandon C. Prins & Krista Wiegand & Sambuddha Ghatak & Aaron Gold, 2017. "Managing territorial conflict: An introduction to this special issue," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 34(2), pages 121-125, March.
    4. Douglas M. Gibler & Andrew P. Owsiak, 2018. "Democracy and the Settlement of International Borders, 1919 to 2001," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 62(9), pages 1847-1875, October.
    5. David B Carter, 2017. "History as a double-edged sword," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 16(4), pages 400-421, November.
    6. Kenneth A. Schultz, 2017. "Mapping Interstate Territorial Conflict," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 61(7), pages 1565-1590, August.
    7. Jaroslav Tir & Maureen Bailey, 2018. "Painting too “Rosie†a picture: The impact of external threat on women’s economic welfare," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 35(3), pages 248-262, May.
    8. Randolph M Siverson & Richard AI Johnson, 2018. "Trigger-happy? Military regimes and the timing of conflict," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 35(5), pages 544-558, September.
    9. Johannes Karreth & Jaroslav Tir & Douglas M Gibler, 2022. "Latent territorial threat and democratic regime reversals," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 59(2), pages 197-212, March.
    10. David B. Carter & Paul Poast, 2017. "Why Do States Build Walls? Political Economy, Security, and Border Stability," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 61(2), pages 239-270, February.
    11. Nam Kyu Kim, 2018. "Are Military Regimes Really Belligerent?," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 62(6), pages 1151-1178, July.

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