Economic Interdependence and Conflict: The case of the post-Soviet space

Abstract: There is still little consensus on whether trade promotes peace or not This thesis aims at investigating the relationship between economic interdependence and conflicts in post-Soviet countries, contributing to the empirical literature on the regional level. Using dyadic measures of trade and conflict, I investigate the relationship between interdependence and onset conflict, ongoing conflict, and conflict intensity. A total of 347 observations are included over the period of 1987-2014. This means that the analysis includes the period of the states being a part of the USSR as well as independent states after the dissolution of the USSR. The results show a negative relationship between trade and conflict, indicating that conflict decreases as interdependence increases. I find that my result can be argued to support liberal, rational as well as conditional hypotheses.