Replication data for: Beneath the Surface: Regime Type and International Interaction - 1953-78

The empirical finding that democracies do not fight each other has long suggested that regime type influences international behavior. In the research reported here, we demonstrate that the democratic peace is only the most visible manifestation of the impact of domestic political structure on international relations. We consider the complete range of cooperative and conflictual interaction of each state in the international system with every dyadic partner in its politically relevant international environment between 1953 and 1978. We demonstrate a strong and consistent relationship between regime type and foreign policy behavior, both at the monadic and the dyadic level. States with more democratic characteristics tend to behave more cooperatively and less conflictually in the international system; these tendencies intensify when democratic states interact with other democracies. Meanwhile, non-democracies tend to treat democracies with more conflictual and less cooperative behavior. The influence of the internal institutional structures of states on their external behavior extends well beyond decisions to go to war. The empirical findings reported herein suggest that future research will benefit from increased attention to the relationships among state structure, leaders' incentives, foreign policy behavior, and international outcomes.

长期以来，“民主国家之间不会相互开战”这一经验性发现，已然揭示出政权类型会对国际行为产生影响。在本项研究中，我们证明了民主和平论仅为国内政治结构对国际关系产生影响的最显性表现形式。我们针对1953年至1978年间，国际体系内每个国家与其政治关联国际环境中所有双边伙伴之间的各类合作与冲突互动展开了考察。我们证实，无论在单元层面还是双边层面，政权类型与外交政策行为之间均存在显著且稳定的关联。具备更民主特征的国家，在国际体系中的行为往往更具合作性、更少带有冲突性；而当民主国家与其他民主国家互动时，这一倾向会进一步强化。与此同时，非民主国家对民主国家的行为往往更具冲突性、合作性更弱。国家内部制度结构对其对外行为的影响，远不止于参战决策这一层面。本研究报告的经验性发现表明，未来的研究若能更多关注国家结构、领导人激励动因、外交政策行为与国际结果之间的关联，将大有裨益。