Understanding Victory: Why Political Institutions Matter

The issue closes with an exchange between Michael Desch of the University of Kentucky and several critics of his article "Democracy and Victory: Why Regime Type Hardly Matters," published in the fall 2002 issue of IS. In the first of three responses, Ajin Choi of Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, presents evidence to counter Desch's claim that democratic allies are no more likely than nondemocratic allies to be victorious in wartime. Choi attributes the greater effectiveness of alliances comprised of democracies to two factors: the role of veto players and the transparency of democracies' political institutions. David Lake of the University of California, San Diego, contends that Desch's research design does not provide a fair test of the relationship between democracy and success in war. Dan Reiter of Emory University and Allan Stam of Dartmouth College argue that Desch's decision to slash the number of cases under examination skews his results. Desch replies to their critiques.