Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy

Published by De Gruyter

Volume 22 Issue 1

Issue of Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy

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Contents
Journal Overview

Publicly Available December 23, 2015

Frontmatter

Page range: i-iii

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Publicly Available December 9, 2015

On the Dynamics of Extremist Violence

Arzu Kıbrıs, Özgür Kıbrıs

Page range: 1-25

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Abstract

Many modern armed conflicts contain more than two fighting parties, or armed opposition groups that have factions within them. It is the moderates in an armed opposition that governments negotiate with. But the agreement’s fate depends on the approval of all other significant actors within the opposition. We construct a dynamic model of conflict in which such an actor is to decide whether to accept a peace agreement signed by the moderates or not. Using this model we analyze the behavior of our decision maker, focusing on outcomes like the optimal settlement strategy, expected duration of the conflict, and the decision maker’s expected payoff from conflict. We then determine how these outcomes are affected by changes in the conflict environment. Finally, we extend our model to analyze the implications of commitment problems, and the possibility that the conflict ends with military victory of either side.

December 9, 2015

Centrality in Trade Networks and Investment in Security

Vincenzo Bove, Leandro Elia, Marco Pelliccia

Page range: 27-39

Abstract

The contemporary empirical literature on military spending has focused on institutional and conflict factors, and although has acknowledged the role of trade openness, it has not taken into account the position of a state in the trade network. Building on the concept of network centrality, we claim that the structure of trade networks affects the optimal investment in security, and that a country’s level of military spending is a function of its strategic position in the global network of a critical commodity, such as oil. Our empirical results show that network centrality constrains military spending.

December 23, 2015

Zipf’s Law and World Military Expenditures

Paschalis Arvanitidis, Christos Kollias

Page range: 41-71

Abstract

The paper employs Zipf’s law to examine the distribution of military spending across countries in the world over the period 1988–2012. Military spending can cautiously be treated as a crude and distant proxy for military capacity and strength, and hence states’ hard power. The paper finds that the first-in-rank country (the USA) consistently spends more on the production of military capabilities than what is projected by Zipf’s law to correspond to a balanced international structure. This, tentatively interpreted, implies the use of military strength (and the concomitant costs for acquiring it) as a tool of hegemonic status consolidation, perhaps vis-à-vis other rising global players. In turn, the countries at the lower end of the rank, although they have overall increased their military outlays, seem to spend less on defence than this is anticipated by the law. This finding may be pointing to free-riding on the military strength of allies and other major powers.

December 10, 2015

Political Islam, Internet Use and Willingness to Migrate: Evidence from the Arab Barometer

Chiara Falco, Valentina Rotondi

Page range: 73-95

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between political Islam, willingness to migrate and Internet use by exploiting the second (2010–2011) and the third (2012–2014) waves of the Arab Barometer. In an effort to explain individual-level willingness to migrate from the Arab world, it investigates the channel through which the more people support political Islam the less they are willing to migrate. At the same time, it explores the fact that the Internet could potentially act as a vehicle of political Islam. Indeed, our findings indicate that there exists a positive relationship between Internet use and individual-level willingness to migrate, while there exists a negative relationship between political Islam and individual-level willingness to migrate. The findings indicate also that there is no significant effect of Internet use on political Islam.

December 9, 2015

A Note on a Methodological Issue Pertaining to the Empirical Specification of the Probability of Crisis Initiation

Lisa J. Carlson, Raymond Dacey

Page range: 97-104

Abstract

This note examines a methodological issue pertaining to the empirical specification of the probability of crisis initiation. We show that the empirical specification of the probability of crisis initiation encounters an insurmountable methodological problem, and, by example, that the problem leads empirical researchers to incorrect conclusions regarding the relationship between regime type and crisis initiation, in particular.

About this journal

Objective
The main objectives of Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy (PEPS) are:
- to further research in Peace Science and Peace Economics,
- to expose the scholarly community to innovative peace-related research,
- to disseminate the study of peace economics to a wider audience.

PEPS accepts both theoretical and empirical contributions to the fields of Peace Economics and Peace Science. In line with Peace Science tradition, PEPS welcomes contributions from an interdisciplinary community of scholars from a variety of disciplines including economics, political science, regional science, mathematics, and history, among others.

Given the fact that the journal is online, authors are not asked to limit themselves to a set word or page count for full-length papers. In order to improve scientific communication within the field of Peace Science and Peace Economics, the journal also publishes “Letters,” to provide accounts of new original research. Letters generally do not exceed 2,500 words in length, exclusive of equations, graphs, and figures. Letters can concern either theoretical or applied work, and will be subject to the peer-review process. In order to make a decision in a short time reviewers are asked to give an “accept/reject” evaluation, without further comments.

Topics
The journal publishes papers covering a wide range of topics with the common theme of peace and conflict analysis, including:

Cooperation
Alliances and games
Game and related theory
Contest theory
General equilibrium models of conflict and conflict management
Economic policies to cope with actual and potential conflicts
Mathematical approaches to conflict management
Mathematical models of arms races and wars
Studies on the causes of wars and political violence
The impact of conflicts and violence on welfare
Public policy aspects of both war-torn and post-conflict societies
Arms control, government spending and International Security
Trade disputes
Trade wars and international economic sanctions

Article formats
PEPS publishes both full-length papers and shorter “Letters.”　

Information on Submission Process