AbstractsPolitical Science

Abstract

During the last decades several interstate conflicts have emerged where petroleum resources are claimed to be a key motivating factor for the initiators. Do these conflicts represent a general tendency in international relations? In this thesis I test whether states that possess discovered petroleum resources are more vulnerable to be targeted in Militarized Interstate Disputes (MIDs). Moreover, I test whether states with petroleum production are more prone to initiate such disputes. This thesis does not find evidence that supports these propositions, and that political institutions and the size of a state’s material capabilities are part of the causal mechanism that link petroleum resources and MIDs. This is a replication analysis of de Soysa et al. (2009). I implement three changes to test the robustness of their results. My results are basically consistent with de Soysa et al. (2009), except for target involvement.