United Nations Intervention by United Democracies?

Abstract

An ongoing study of the impact of democracy on the incidence of state commitment to UN interventions is examined, with a focus on state participation in UN interventions. It is hypothesized that, of potential committing states, democracies show the greatest propensity to participate in UN interventions. In contrast to the existing literature, which comprises mainly case studies, basic descriptive statistics are utilized in this article to probe the hypothesis on polity and commitment to UN interventions. The less-democratic states are less committed to UN interventions. Overall, the hypothesis is supported by the empirical results in that (a) democracies commit more than other polities to UN interventions, (b) the difference between democracies and anocracies is relatively small and ambiguous in significance compared to the difference between autocracies and democracies/anocracies, and (c) the empirical track record is by and large consistent with previous research on the effect of polity within the realms of war and conventional interventions.