The Effects of the Security Environment on Military Expenditures: Pooled Analyses of 165 Countries, 1950-2000

Countries' military expenditures differ greatly across both space and time. This study examines the determinants of military spending, with particular reference to the importance of the external security environment. Using the liberal-realist model of international relations, we first estimate the probability that two countries will be involved in a fatal militarized interstate dispute. We then aggregate these ex ante estimates of the likelihood of dyadic conflict, calculating the annual joint probability that a country will be involved in a fatal dispute. This is our measure of the external threat. We then estimate the level of military spending by country and year as a function of the security environment, arms races with foes and the defense expenditures of friendly countries, states' involvement in actual military conflict, economic output, and various other political variables. In analyses of a panel of 165 countries, 1950 to 2000, we find that the security environment is a powerful determinant of military spending. Indeed, our prospectively measured estimate of the external threat is more influential than any of several influences known only ex post. Our best estimate is that a one percentage point rise in the probability of a fatal dispute leads to a 3 percent increase in military spending.Military spending, Security threat, Arms race, Militarized disputes, Democracy, Alliances

Monitoring Beach Retreat and Sediment Shift at Seawall Beach, Phippsburg, ME

Barrier beaches are highly valuable coastal systems which provide protection to both manmade and ecological interests. Beaches worldwide are retreating due to climate change and sea level rise, which threatens those assets which they would otherwise protect. This study focused on monitoring Seawall Beach in southwest Maine using the Emery Method. Field research was conducted in the fall of 2020 and aimed to construct profiles of its beachface and dune ridges for comparison with archival data at the same locations over a 33-year period. Results indicate that the beach has retreated about 11 meters since the earliest available profiles in 1987. These findings support previous research (Nelson and Fink, 1979) indicating that Seawall Beach is retreating in intermittent events driven by record storms at an average rate of about 33 cm/year. This trend is likely to continue and eventually accelerate unless some form of action is taken towards addressing it

Sorority Women, Drinking, and Context: The Influence of Environment on College Student Drinking

The purpose of this study was to explore college drinking from the perspective of sorority women, including delving further into situational or contextual conditions related to the environment where drinking occurs, and examining the extent to which gender influences associated behaviors and choices related to drinking. Data collection occurred through three focus groups; in all 25 undergraduate sorority women participated. In addition, six focus group participants volunteered to take part in individual follow up interviews. Findings illustrate the prevalence and influence of a male dominated drinking environment, specifically identified within fraternities, and highlight sorority women’s awareness of gender differences and subsequent choices. Implications for college administrators and health educators responsible for campus programming and prevention efforts are provided

Assessing the Online Management of Alcohol Policies and Alcohol Educational Programming Among Greek Student Organizations – a Content Analysis

College student drinking remains a public health concern and Fraternity/Sorority organizations have consistently documented higher rates of alcohol use than their peers. However, these groups are also likely to be proactive in addressing risk management of alcohol use. The authors conducted a content analysis of nationally recognized fraternity/ sorority websites, aimed at identifying harm reduction strategies in place among these groups. While the majority of fraternities/sororities reviewed had readily accessible alcohol related policies, fewer organizations were identified as having adapted alcohol related education programs. Best practices suggest having strong policies and educational programming lead to reduced consequences related to alcohol use

Comparative Public Health: The Political Economy of Human Misery and Well‐Being

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147083/1/j.0020-8833.2004.00292.x.pd

'Hollow promises?' Critical materialism and the contradictions of the Democratic Peace

© Cambridge University PressThe Democratic Peace research programme explicitly and implicitly presents its claims in terms of their potential to underpin a universal world peace. Yet whilst the Democratic Peace appears robust in its geographical heartlands it appears weaker at the edges of the democratic world, where the spread of democracy and the depth of democratic political development is often limited and where historically many of the purported exceptions to the Democratic Peace are found. Whereas Democratic Peace scholarship has tended to overlook or downplay these phenomena, from a critical materialist perspective they are indicative of a fundamental contradiction within the Democratic Peace whereby its universalistic aspirations are thwarted by its material grounding in a hierarchical capitalist world economy. This, in turn, raises the question of whether liberal arguments for a universal Democratic Peace are in fact hollow promises. The article explores these concerns and argues that those interested in democracy and peace should pay more attention to the critical materialist tradition, which in the discussion below is represented principally by the world-system approach

The Effects of the Security Environment on Military Expenditures: Pooled Analyses of 165 Countries, 1950-2000

Countries’ military expenditures differ greatly across both space and time. This study examines the determinants of military spending, with particular reference to the importance of the external security environment. Using the liberal-realist model of international relations, we first estimate the probability that two countries will be involved in a fatal militarized interstate dispute. We then aggregate these ex ante estimates of the likelihood of dyadic conflict, calculating the annual joint probability that a country will be involved in a fatal dispute. This is our measure of the external threat. We then estimate the level of military spending by country and year as a function of the security environment, arms races with foes and the defense expenditures of friendly countries, states’ involvement in actual military conflict, economic output, and various other political variables. In analyses of a panel of 165 countries, 1950 to 2000, we find that the security environment is a powerful determinant of military spending. Indeed, our prospectively measured estimate of the external threat is more influential than any of several influences known only ex post. Our best estimate is that a one percentage point rise in the probability of a fatal dispute leads to a 3 percent increase in military spending