Replication data for: Powerful Pacifists: Democratic States and War

They are also more likely to prevail in wars with autocratic states. This study offers an explanation of this syndrome of powerful pacifism drawn from the microeconomic theory of the state.

State rent seeking creates an imperialist bias in a county's foreign policy. This bias is smallest in democracies, where the cost to society of controlling the state are relatively low, and greatest in autocracies, where the costs are higher. As a result of this bias, autocracies will be more expansionist and, in turn, war-prone.