Democracies and UN peacekeeping operations, 1990–1996

This article analyses the relationship between the level of democracy in states and the inclination of states to engage in peacekeeping. Among the substantial contributors to peace‐support operations, well‐consolidated democracies show the greatest propensity to participate. Further, among the states in conflict, the non‐democratic states receive a disproportionate number of operations. Another intriguing observation is the fact that despite constituting a minority among the intra‐state conflicts, the conflicts over government attract most of the operations.