Accounting for International War: The State of the Discipline

In studies of war it is important to observe that the processes leading to so frequent an event as conflict are not necessarily those that lead to so infrequent an event as war. Also, many models fail to recognize that a phenomenon irregularly distributed in time and space, such as war, cannot be explained on the basis of relatively invariant phenomena. Much research on periodicity in the occurrence of war has yielded little result, suggesting that the direction should now be to focus on such variables as diffusion and contagion. Structural variables, such as bipolarity, show contradictory results with some clear inter-century differences. Bipolarity, some results suggest, might have different effects on different social entities. A considerable number of studies analysing dyadic variables show a clear connection between equal capabilities among contending nations and escalation of conflict into war. Finally, research into national attributes often points to strength and geographical location as important variables. In general, the article concludes, there is room for modest optimism, as research into the question of war is no longer moving in non-cumulative circles. Systematic research is producing results and there is even a discernible tendency of convergence, in spite of a great diversity in theoretical orientations.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69148/2/10.1177_002234338101800101.pd

Germination analysis of <i>rh7</i> mutants under 22°C and 12°C.

<p>(A) Germination of <i>rh7</i> mutants at optimal temperature (22°C) compared with WT. (B) Germination of <i>rh7</i> mutants and WT at low temperature (12°C). The percentages of germinated seeds in (A) and (B) were counted by the seeds with radicle and first true leaf larger than 1 mm respectively. Each plate had 45 seeds per genotype. (C) Photographs of plates used to generate data in (A) and (B). (a) 2 weeks after germination at 22°C; (b) and (c) 4 and 7 weeks after germination at 12°C. (D) Higher magnification images of mutants germinated at 12°C. Top and bottom panels indicate mutants after germination at 12°C for 7 weeks and 10 weeks, respectively. Note that the first true leaf of <i>rh7</i> mutants did not emerge within one month at 12°C, but after prolonged cold treatment, the mutants gradually developed true leaves with an extremely small size and aberrant shape. Scale bar = 1 mm in (D).</p