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The Demise of Peace Treaties in Interstate War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2013

Tanisha M. Fazal
Tanisha M. Fazal*
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana. E-mail: tfazal@nd.edu
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Abstract

The conclusion of peace treaties following war was a norm of international politics for millennia. Since approximately 1950, however, the rate at which interstate wars have ended with a formal peace treaty has declined dramatically. I argue that the costs of concluding peace treaties have risen with the development of the modern canon of the law of war. Using an original data set, I find that states today prefer to avoid admitting to a state of war and risk placing their leaders and soldiers at risk of punishment for any violations of the law of war.

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Research Article
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International Organization , Volume 67 , Issue 4 , October 2013 , pp. 695 - 724
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Copyright © The IO Foundation 2013 

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