Restraint or Propellant? Democracy and Civilian Fatalities in Interstate Wars

• Published in: The Journal of conflict resolution Vol. 51; no. 6; pp. 872 - 904
• Main Author: Downes, Alexander B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications 01.12.2007; SAGE Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Accountability; Attrition (Research Studies); Attrition warfare; Autocracy; Casualties; Civilians; Conflict resolution; Conflict theory; Corporate culture; Data analysis; Datasets; Death; Democracy; Fatalities; Government; International conflicts; Killing; Mass murder; Mortality Rates; Numbers; Political Ideologies; Political leadership; Political regimes; Public Opinion; Regression analysis; Relocation; State Power; Studies; Victimization; Victims of Crime; Violence; Violence against civilians; War; War casualties; Warfare; World wars; mass killing; civilian casualties; civilian victimization; democracy

This article investigates the effect of regime type on the number of civilian fatalities that states inflicted in interstate wars between 1900 and 2003. As opposed to several previous studies, the author finds little support for normative arguments positing that democracies kill fewer civilians in w...