ABSTRACT
Why are some states peaceful while others experience numerous wars? In a recently major empirical study, Maoz documents the great variations in state (and also dyad) war-proneness. He suggests, however, that ‘we still lack a good understanding of these tendencies as well as of some of their causes and correlates. Thus, a study of these issues appears timely’.1 How could IR theory account for this kind of important variations? How can we best explain this tendency of war-involvement of certain states, especially if it persists over long periods of time, beyond the tenure of specific leaders? A related question is why does the danger of war seem to be concentrated around some specific questions in certain places such as China-Taiwan, Korean unification (and earlier also in Vietnam), Kashmir, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, IsraelSyria-Lebanon, Iraq-Kuwait, Kosovo, and Chechnya? Is it because of factors related to the global or regional balance of capabilities, the type of domestic regimes, or maybe some alternative causal factors?
