J. Eyerman et Ra. Hart, AN EMPIRICAL-TEST OF THE AUDIENCE COST PROPOSITION - DEMOCRACY SPEAKSLOUDER THAN WORDS, The Journal of conflict resolution, 40(4), 1996, pp. 597-616
Fearon (1994a) concludes that democracies should be less Likely to bac
k down in crises and thus be able signal resolve more effectively than
autocratic states. The authors evaluate this argument against the pop
ulation of conflicts identified by the SHERFACS phase-disaggregated co
nflict management data set. Their findings indicate that domestic char
acteristics of democracies enable them to communicate intentions effec
tively. Between 1945 and 1984; conflicts between pairs of democratic s
tates have been found to have fewer phases than those involving at lea
st one autocratic state. This suggests that the information conveyed b
y the regime type of a state may help resolve the security dilemma by
providing communication between democracies. This finding also support
s an integration of existing explanations of the democratic peace.