Working Papers

Working Papers

• "Why Keep Conscription? The 'Domestication' of Western Europe's Armed Forces"
  Abstract: This project investigates the conditions under which countries decide to keep conscription. Utilizing a trove of untapped German language primary sources this study finds that the domestic utility of armed forces plays a crucial role in the decision-making process. When domestic utility in Austria and Switzerland was high, conscription is continued. However, when it was low in Germany, the draft was suspended.

• "Justifying Peacekeeping Operations Internationally: The Influence of Regime Type"
  Abstract: This study explores how regime type influences states’ international justifications for participating in UN Peacekeeping Operations. Using newly collected data I find that full democracies appear to favor humanitarian arguments, whereas other regime types predominantly highlight security aspects in their reasoning.

• "Ending Conscription: Consequences for German Civil-Military Relations" (with Ryan Grauer)
  Abstract: This project shows that the relationship between civil society and the military changes after national conscription ends. Through examining survey data on German civilians’ affinity for the military before and after the ending of conscription we find that the ending of conscription does in fact correlate with a drop in public affinity for the Bundeswehr, particularly among younger Germans.