ENDURING RIVALRIES - THEORETICAL CONSTRUCTS AND EMPIRICAL PATTERNS

Historians commonly criticize studies in a more behavioral mode as bei ng ''ahistorical''; that is, they lump together a disparate group of e vents without regard for their historical contexts. We propose to focu s on what may be the most obvious and serious form of historical conti nuity: repeated conflict among the same set of states, or what we refe r to (in accordance with the small but growing literature) as ''enduri ng rivalries.'' Specifically, we (1) explore the theoretical relevance of the concept of enduring rivalries, (2) define the concept of endur ing rivalries, (3) evaluate current operational criteria for enduring rivalries, and (4) describe empirically the rivalries generated by tho se criteria.