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Under which conditions do democracies participate in war, and when do they abstain? Providing a unique theoretical framework, Mello identifies pathways of war involvement and abstention across thirty democracies, investigating the wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.

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Introduction 1. Democracy and War Involvement 2. Explaining Democratic Participation in Armed Conflict 3. Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis 4. Kosovo: Forced Allies or Willing Contributors? 5. Afghanistan: Unconditional Support but Selective Engagement? 6. Iraq: Parliamentary Peace or Partisan Politics? 7. Democracies and the Wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq Conclusion

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Patrick A. Mello is a Research Associate and Lecturer at Dresden University of Technology, Germany. His research interests include international relations theory and the influence of domestic politics on foreign policy as well as comparative and case study research methods. He has written articles for the European Journal of International Relations and the Journal of International Relations and Development.

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