TY - JOUR
T1 - Offense-defense theory
T2 - An empirical assessment
AU - Gortzak, Yoav
AU - Haftel, Yoram Z.
AU - Sweeney, Kevin
PY - 2005/2
Y1 - 2005/2
N2 - Proponents of offense-defense theory (ODT) contend that the offense-defense balance (ODB) forms the "master key" to understanding the question of peace and war. Time-series event count models of war and militarized interstate disputes at the systemic level are used to test the theory's claims that shifts in the ODB have an important effect on the likelihood of international war and militarized disputes and that ODT offers a more powerful explanation for conflict than other explanations in the international relations (IR) literature. Results cast doubt on the empirical validity of the ODT and indicate that other IR theories have important explanatory power.
AB - Proponents of offense-defense theory (ODT) contend that the offense-defense balance (ODB) forms the "master key" to understanding the question of peace and war. Time-series event count models of war and militarized interstate disputes at the systemic level are used to test the theory's claims that shifts in the ODB have an important effect on the likelihood of international war and militarized disputes and that ODT offers a more powerful explanation for conflict than other explanations in the international relations (IR) literature. Results cast doubt on the empirical validity of the ODT and indicate that other IR theories have important explanatory power.
KW - International relations
KW - Militarized interstate disputes
KW - Offense-defense balance
KW - Offense-defense theory
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=12944252857&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0022002704271280
DO - 10.1177/0022002704271280
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AN - SCOPUS:12944252857
SN - 0022-0027
VL - 49
SP - 67
EP - 89
JO - Journal of Conflict Resolution
JF - Journal of Conflict Resolution
IS - 1
ER -