The Spatial Diffusion of War: The Case of World War I

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Journal of the Korean Geographical Society

Volume

49

Issue

1

Publisher

Journal of the Korean Geographical Society

Publication Date

3-1-2014

First Page

57

Last Page

76

Abstract

Conventional treatments of war diffusion focus extensively on dyadic relationships, whose impact is thought to be immutable over the course of the conf lict. This study indicates that such conceptions are at best incomplete, and more likely misleading to explain the spatial diffusion of wars. Using social network analysis, we examine war joining behavior during World War I. By employing social network analysis, we attempted to overcome the dichotomous understanding of geography as space and network in the discipline of conflict studies. Empirically, networked structural elements of state relationships (e.g., rivalry, alliances) have explanatory and predictive value that must be included alongside dyadic considerations in analyzing war joining behavior. In addition, our analysis demonstrates that the diffusion of conflict involves different driving forces over time.

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