THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REVOLT AND WAR IN EARLY-MODERN WESTERN-EUROPE

There is currently little theoretical consensus about the relationship between revolt and war. The ''conflict-cohesion'' argument suggests t hat war decreases revolt by increasing internal solidarity, but others note that war may increase revolt since it is often contrary to the i nterests of subjects and it weakens the state. The ''diversionary theo ry of war'' posits that revolt may lead states to initiate offensive w ars in order to create solidarity, but a balance of power argument sug gests that revolts will produce defensive wars since others are more l ikely to attack a weakened state. Empirical studies of the relationshi p have been inconclusive, and most of them have been limited to a narr ow time period. This paper provides the first test of these arguments in the early modern period (1400-1700), and uses a new method (qualita tive comparative analysis) to explore in more detail than previous stu dies the relationship between particular types of wars and specific ty pes of revolts. We find that there is no general and consistent relati onship between revolt and war in this period, but there are some cases in which war weakened states enough to increase the frequency of revo lts in peripheral regions.