The Steps to War – An Empirical Study

"The Steps to War is a highly creative, well-tested, and strongly persuasive synthesis of the last two generations' empirical analysis of the war onset phenomenon. Let's see if the next generation can do better, or as well, as this superb summation by Senese and Vasquez of their own work of the last decade."--William R. Thompson, Indiana University

"This is a major contribution to the literature on the causes of interstate war. It advances a powerful theory that is informed by a masterful review and synthesis of the quantitative literature and tested by sophisticated empirical methods. It will be a core component of the conflict analysis curriculum for years to come."--Jack S. Levy, Rutgers University

"This is an important book. Senese and Vasquez draw together a great deal of empirical work probing the steps to war theory, a highly regarded and long-lived theory of war and international relations. The book will be widely read, widely cited, and will spark a lot of follow-up work. It will be used by every quantitative researcher in international politics, and probably by a lot of nonquantitative researchers as well."--Douglas Lemke, Pennsylvania State University