Democracy and State Repression: What we Don't Know, Can Kill Us

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorDavenport, Christianen_US
dc.contributor.authorArmstrong II, Daviden_US
dc.contributor.departmentGovernment and Politicsen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2009-10-06T05:39:28Z
dc.date.available2009-10-06T05:39:28Z
dc.date.issued2009en_US
dc.description.abstractThere is an overwhelming amount of empirical evidence that democracy makes states more pacific toward their citizens. This robust finding has left scholars working in this area confident that they know {\em why} democracy causes states to be more pacific. I argue this is not true for two reasons. First, the theories adopted to explain this relationship have not been properly tested. Second, when good faith efforts have been made to test theories, measurement of all key variables has not been treated rigorously. I solve both of these problems by revisiting the theories upon which the literature rests and using a rigorous measurement strategy that is as true as possible to the theories proposed. I show that while the theories are up to the task of explaining the relationship, often the data are the weak link. Often, there is relatively little variation on the dependent and key independent variables. Thus, I show that most of the results generated in the literature are of the between-country variety rather than the within-country variety.en_US
dc.format.extent777740 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/9472
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledPolitical Science, Generalen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledDemocracyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledHuman Rightsen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledMeasuring Democracyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledRepressionen_US
dc.titleDemocracy and State Repression: What we Don't Know, Can Kill Usen_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
ArmstrongII_umd_0117E_10474.pdf
Size:
759.51 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

UMD Theses and Dissertations
Government & Politics Theses and Dissertations