AN EMPIRICAL-TEST OF THE AUDIENCE COST PROPOSITION - DEMOCRACY SPEAKSLOUDER THAN WORDS

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.