Political Science 379
Problems in International Relations:
Conducting Empirical Research in International Relations
Spring 2005
Assignment 4. Due: Friday, March 4th.
Ray's chapter 1 is a review of the research on the relationship between democracy
and conflict. Since the publication of his book in 1995, the amount of research
on this and related topics has continued to grow (in number of publications) and
expand (in focus).
In this assignment you will learn a bit about the current status of this field of
research. You are to identify some recent journal articles that deal with democracy
and conflict.
Specifically, your tasks are:
- Look in the following journals beginning with the year 2000:
- International Interactions
- Journal of Conflict Resolution
- Journal of Peace Research
- Identify 3 articles that, in some fashion, explore the relationship
between democracy and conflict.
- Based only on the information in the abstract, what does the
author conclude about the relationship between democracy and conflict? If
the abstract does not say anything about this relationship, put this down.
I would expect that you could summarize the relationship in one or two
sentences.
- Turn in a copy of the abstract for each article
Hey, that's pretty easy! A couple of comments.
All three journals can be accessed through Frondren's website, as well as in
the library itself.
Online journal collections do not always extend through the most recent
issues (there may be an embargo of a year, for example).
One reason I picked these three journals is that they are quality places
that would be likely to publish the kind of research that you are trying to
find.
The other reason I picked these journals is that all of the articles in these
journals begin with an abstract. You should make your selection of articles
based on reading the abstracts. You do not have to read the articles.
The abstracts are not infallible. Sometimes they are a bit misleading. It is
also possible that if the focus of the article is not democracy and conflict, the
abstract may not mention democracy, even though that is part of the analysis.
Make sure you keep a record of the articles you submit. You may find this
useful a bit later in the course.
Honor Code. The assignment is pledged. Do not consult with anyone in the class about it.