Various authors have posited the relationship between alliance polarization and violent conflict in the global system as positive, negative, and curvilinear. Unfortu nately, these hypotheses have not received a thorough test, as previous empirical studies of alliance polarization have tended to neglect (1) the configurational properties of alliance groupings, and (2) the nonmilitary dimensions of alignment. This paper attempts to construct measures of polarization and cross-cutting which take these properties into account. Configurations of alignment patterns are generated by subjecting data on military alliances, diplomatic representation, and intergovernmental organizations to Guttmann-Lingoes Smallest Space Analysis. Several mathematical procedures are developed to measure polarization and cross-cutting within and between these clusters.
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