Civil war in the post-colonial world, 1946-92

In this article, we provide a systematic analysis of the extent to which po litical, economic, and cultural factors are associated with civil wars in t he post-colonial states of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Results of lo gistic regression analyses corroborate previous findings that semi-democrac y is associated with an increased likelihood of civil war, while greater ec onomic development reduces the probability of civil war. We also found that militarized post-colonial states are more likely to experience civil war, as are Asian - more than Middle Eastern and African - stares. Among the pol itical, economic, and cultural factors, semi-democracy has the greatest imp act on the probability of civil war, which suggests the greater role of pol itical - more than economic or cultural - factors in post-colonial civil wa rs. All told, the findings suggest that a multifaceted strategy of full dem ocratization, demilitarization, and development is required to reduce the l ikelihood of civil war in post-colonial states.