The oldest, most prestigious merit scholarship program in the United States
E-mail to the Foundation about an undergraduate research project. November 15, 2010.
At the moment, Professor Crescenzi is finalizing a paper on the relationship between economic competition for trade, and political violence.
Essentially, my role in his research was to scour the annals of history and come up with some examples of this phenomenon.
Logo for the 2010 Peace Science Society Conference University of North Texas
In a simplified nutshell, his ideal states that when two bodies are in competition for market share, then there are sets of conditions under which martial force becomes the most viable manner of improving or retaining ones power in this market.
I contributed to his presentation to the Peace Science Society with a narrative of the Anglo-Dutch wars, which I deemed to be a poignant example of the economic principle in question.
The competition for trade routes and European trade markets between Dutch and British merchant fleets, came at a time when both nations’ economies were founded on the revenue gleaned from trade, and when both nations were attempting to expand their global influence.
For both the Dutch and the British, they faced a choice between relinquishing their market share and the power that came with it, or going to war. They both chose the latter.
Professor Crescenzi presented his material at the Peace Science Society Conference last month, and was good enough to use my research as supporting material for his thesis.
