A Classification of Interstate War: Typologies and Rivalry.

A major lesson of the scientific study of war is that different wars have different causes. Related to this lesson is the belief that war is multicausal and that there are different paths to war. Both these claims imply the need to create a typology of war. This paper will delineate a typology of interstate wars and classify wars from 1816-1997 according to type. We first divide the wars according to whether they are fought by two parties (dyadic wars) or multiple parties (complex wars) that might involve contagion processes. We next use the territorial explanation of war to distinguish wars that arise out of territorial disputes as opposed to policy or regime disputes. Other variables used to further refine the typology are the use of power politics practices before the war (alliances, arms races, and recurring disputes that produc [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]