title: Considering population and war: a critical and neglected aspect of conflict studies.
abstract: This study analyses the relationship between war and population. The impact of the growth and decline of population on important types of warfare--great power, small power, civil war as well as terrorism--is illustrated, with the objective in each case to be descriptive of risk. I find that population change has a significant impact on each, with the greatest causal impact on small power conflicts, civil war and upon terrorism. I conclude with some reasons for guarded optimism about the incorporation of population as a component of analysis in the discipline of international studies, and for the potential to devise new solutions to prevent conflict.
authors.affiliation: Department of Political Science, Baylor University, PO Box 97276, Waco, TX 76798-7276, USA. bradley_thayer@baylor.edu
authors.forename: Bradley A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Thayer
mesh_terms: D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D011057:Politics; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012961:Sociology / Q000379:methods*; D023481:Terrorism; D014857:Warfare