Rafael Wittek: Resource competition and violent conflict
POPULATION
DENSITY
FOOD +30 |AOQUISITION
STRESS = OF LAND
m, d
+74
STRATI-
FICATION
Fig. 6. Logit-model for acquisition of land
Ãs it contains the interaction between hunger and social stratification, and the beta-co-
efficient for this interaction is positive for stratified societies with food stress, Com-
bination Model II is supported. This result may be interpreted as follows: (1) The pre-
'Senceof food shortages raises the probability of fighting for land more for stratified so-
Cleties than for unstratified ones. (2) The presence of food shortages raises the proba-
bility of not fighting for land more for unstratified than for stratified societies. Thus,
Societies practicing flexible distribution may indeed be able to successfully cope with
famines so that violent conflict will not become necessary. Partial scarcity â a result of
estrictive types of distribution â is more likely to be a cause of aggressive appropri-
ation of productive land.
It follows further, that for this type of violent conflict the demographical explan-
ation has to be rejected. Wars aimed at the acquisition of land can be explained without
the resort to population density as an independent variable.
. Thesingle effects of stratification and hunger are rather weak in comparison to the
Interaction effect. Taken alone â that is, holding constant either stratification or
Unger â the presence of stratification lowers the acquisition of land (f â â.16), while
the Occurence of hunger raises it (fh â +.22). This may be interpreted that food scarcity
In fact acts as the crucial impetus for stratified societies to seize new land.