Order, Conflict, and Violence: Promises and pitfalls of an emerging research program: the microdynamics of civil war

摘要: The study of civil war ranks among the most notable developments in political science during last decade. Several important papers have been published this period and field has witnessed an shift toward cross-national, large-N econometric studies (e.g. Collier Hoeffler 2004; Fearon Laitin 2003), following a previous from case-study format to that theoretically informed (Wickham-Crowley 1992; Skocpol 1979; Scott 1976; Eckstein 1965). However, despite these advances much remains be understood. On one hand, conceptual foundations our understanding wars are still weak (Kalyvas 2001; 2003; Cramer 2002); on other produced very little terms robust results – main being that, like autocratic regimes (Przeworski et al . 2000), more likely occur poor countries. problems well known: their findings incredibly sensitive coding measurement procedures (Hegre Sambanis 2006; Montalvo Reynal-Querol 2005; 2004b); they entail considerable distance between theoretical constructs proxies (Cederman Girardin 2007; 2007) as multiple observationally equivalent pathways Humphreys Kocher 2004a); suffer endogeneity (Miguel 2004); lack clear microfoundations or based erroneous ones (Cramer Kalyvas 2007b; Gutierrez Sanin and, finally, subject narrow (and untheorized) scope conditions (Wimmer Min 2006).