Trade,interdependence and its effect on interstate conflict: the case of the east African region

The effect of dyadic trade on reducing disputes/conflicts has been dealt with at some length in the literature. most of the studies assess the effect of trade on militarised interstate disputes from a global perspective. this article explores the effect of trade and economic interdependence on the likelihood of interstate conflicts in the countries of the east african region: djibouti,eritrea,ethiopia,kenya,somalia,sudan,tanzania and uganda. to examine the causal effect,binary logistic regression was used by employing correlates of war data sets and various issues of imf yearbook. the study finds that there is a reciprocal relationship between trade,economic openness and interstate conflict in the region. economic openness across the region significantly reduces the onset of conflicts that could arise in east african countries. trade-induced interdependence significantly decreases the likelihood of conflict in the region. © 2014 statistical economic and social research. all rights reserved.