Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Political actors tend to blur the line between imagination and memory. This is partly why novel visions are rarely de novo constructs, and memories are just as rarely high fidelity recollections. And yet, conflict is often exacerbated by political actors’

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Teens and young adults in the United States have higher rates of sexually transmitted disease (STD) than older adults, and female adolescents generally have higher rates than same-age males. Some existing literature, often based on an evolutionary psychological approach, suggests that females may be more likely to tolerate sexual infidelity, a potential explanation for gender differences in STD rates. This paper uses data from wave 3 of the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (n=583) to explore the association of sexual infidelity with the breakup of adolescent dating relationships. Specifically, this study addresses two questions: first, if females are more likely to remain in a relationship that is not sexually exclusive, and second, if relationship qualities (commitment, conflict, etc.) mediate the relationships between infidelity, gender, and break-up. Logistic regression is used to predict the break-up of adolescents’ most recent dating relationship based on the occurrence of infidelity, relationship qualities, and demographic controls including gender.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Infidelity has been widely studied, but little is known about strategic infidelity. This paper is part of a first detailed study on two forms of strategic infidelity — infidelity based on revenge and relational dissatisfaction. About 2,000 adults filled out an online survey assessing vengefulness, relational quality, infidelity justification, actual cheating behavior, infidelity likelihood, infidelity revelation, and relational outcome. The results indicate vengefulness is a predictor of infidelity. Vengeful people tend to have cheated in the past, and are likely to cheat in the future regardless of their cheating history. Vengefulness also predicts infidelity justification, and the more infidelity is perceived as justified, the more one is likely to cheat. However, vengefulness does not predict more face-threatening revelations of infidelity. Women are more vengeful in infidelity and female cheaters are more emotionally involved in affairs than male cheaters. Discussion addresses limitations of this study and directions for future research on strategic infidelity.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Because we believe that international institutions matter, we
would expect to see institutions raise the cost of non-compliance
for states that sign on to the rules. It is surprising that
scholars of international relations have not tested whether
membership in international regimes and organizations increases
the cost for engaging in institutionally outlawed behavior. In
this paper, I examine the proliferation of the `democratization
clause', the requirement that member states respect liberal
democracy, among regional economic organizations. I find that
compliance with the liberal democratic norm is higher within
organizations that have the clause. I also find that insider
states which broke the norm have been more likely to be punished
by outside economic pressure. I conclude that higher compliance
with the rule is, at least in part, due to the higher cost of
violation to insiders than to outsiders. The study shows that
international agreements may have more teeth than their critics
give them credit for. We can learn much more about institutions
and compliance by studying non-compliance and its consequences.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Existing scholarship has made the claim that while democracies do not go to war, democratizing states are much more war prone than their fully democratic or authoritarian counterparts. This claim has generated a large literature and a substantial controversy. It is surprising that no dataset identifies in an acceptable manner the set of democratizing states. Neither the Polity IV project nor Freedom House have adequate scoring criteria for the task. That means any findings on the particular issue of democratization and war are debatable as they hinge on less than defensible empirical measures. This paper exploits a unique new dataset of democratizing states to cast new light on the question of political transititions and war-proneness. The dataset identifies democratizing states by the number and quality of national -level elections held. Consolidated democracies, fully closed authoritarian regimes, and semi-democracies are best identified by their electoral practices. The paper's findings call into question some established findings while suggesting ways to further establish the causal logic through which political transitions may bear on belligerent foreign policies.