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Alternative international systems? System structure and violent conflict in nineteenth-century West Africa, Southeast Asia, and South Asia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

CHARLES BUTCHER  and
RYAN GRIFFITHS
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Abstract

Were precolonial state systems different to the European model? If so, how did these state systems vary, and do variations in system structure influence the frequency of war? In this article we assess the structure off international systems in nineteenth-century West Africa, Southeast Asia, and South Asia using new data on precolonial states that corrects for some of the biases in the existing Correlates of War state system membership data. We develop a framework to capture variation in political order above and below the state, and explore the similarities and differences between these systems and the European system we know and study. We then assess how rates of inter- and intra-state war varied across these systems. Our results suggest: (1) It is the nature of hierarchy (not so much anarchy) that varies across these systems; and (2) inter-state wars are more frequent, but less intense, in systems composed of decentralised states.

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Articles
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 41 , Issue 4 , October 2015 , pp. 715 - 737
Copyright
© 2015 British International Studies Association 

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Footnotes

*

A previous version of this article was presented at the 2013 ISA Conference in San Francisco. We acknowledge financial support from the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago, and the Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney. We thank Seva Gunitsky, Peter Katzenstein, Andrew Phillips, Jason Sharman, William Thompson, and several anonymous reviewers for their comments and assistance.

References

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2 The ISD identifies 96 states that were excluded in COW. Of these, twenty had populations over 500,000 and were presumably excluded because of insufficient diplomatic relations. Most of the remaining 76 appear to have been excluded because of both low diplomatic linkage and because they had populations less than 500,000. See Griffiths, Ryan and Butcher, Charles, ‘Introducing the International System(s) Dataset (ISD), 1816–2011’, International Interactions, 35:5 (2013), pp. 748–768 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 Griffiths and Butcher, ‘International System(s) Dataset (ISD)’.

4 Peter Brecke, ‘Violent conflicts 1400 A.D to the present in different regions of the world’, paper prepared for the 1999 Meeting of the Peace Science Society (International) on 8–10 October 1999 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

5 Correlates of War (2011).

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9 Both approaches are consistent with the international legal conception of states. The Montevideo Declaration on the Rights and Duties of States declares: ‘The State as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (1) a permanent population; (2) a defined territory; (3) Government, and; (4) capacity to enter into relations with other states.’

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41 We identify 18 states in the post-1816 period: Annam (1816–83), Myanmar (1816–85), Siam/Thailand (1816–2011), Kedah (1816–21), Perak (1816–74), Selangor (1816–75), Pahang (1816–74), Johore (1816–85), Terengganu (1816–62), Kelantan (1816–1909), Siak (1816–58), Minangkabau (1816–37), Palembang (1816–23), Benjermassin (1816–60), Karangasem (1816–94), Aceh (1816–74), Sulu (1816–51), and Brunei (1816–88).

42 One possible exception was the Chinese tribute system where regions as distant as Annam, Sulu, and Malacca would send missions to China. See Ringmar, ‘Performing international systems’. Whether this political relationship was truly one of subordination or simple convenience is difficult to say.

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49 We thank an anonymous reviewer for pointing this out to us.

50 The ISD identifies 28 independent states in South Asia (modern day India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan) that were in existence for some period from 1816–1905. These include Jaipur (1816–18), Jodhpur (1816–18), Udaipur (1816–17), Kotah (1816–18), Bikaner (1816–18), Bharatpur (1816–28), Sirohi (1816–23) Bhopal (1816–17), Cutch (1816), Sawantvadi (1816–38), Khaipur (1816–38), Kalat (1816–76), Swat (1816–96), Dir (1816–96), Kapurthala (1816–26), Bahawalpur (1816–38), Chamba (1816–46), Assam (1816–17), Bhutan (1816–1910), Sikkim (1816–90), Manipur (1816–91), Pune (1816–1917), Gwalior (1816–18), Nagpur (1816–18), Indore (1816–18), Sind (1816–39), Punjab (1816–46), and Nepal (1816–2011).

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