ABSTRACT
The influence of regime type on the outbreak, conduct and resolution of low-intensity conflict has been the subject of considerable debate. Democracies and non-democracies face different levels of conflict risk and confront different types of challenges from non-state opponents. They employ different instruments and strategies in fighting their enemies and may have different track records of victory and defeat. Democratic sceptics argue that these differences favour closed regimes, which face fewer constraints on the use of coercion and have a higher tolerance for sustaining the human and material costs of war (Mack 1975; Chalk 1995; Inbar 2003; Merom 2003; Li 2005; Luttwak 2007; Peters 2007). Democratic optimists maintain that democracies are less likely to provoke violent opposition in the first place and, by emphasizing legitimacy over intimidation, are better able to secure the peace (Dernado 1985; Elbadawi and Sambanis 2000; Regan and Henderson 2002; Elkins 2005; Sambanis and Zinn 2005; Abrahms 2007).
