Measuring state security relationships: The security position score

Abstract

Security cooperation between states is an important aspect of foreign policy, but accurate measurement of security relationships is difficult. This paper introduces a new dataset containing a novel measure of state security-related foreign policy positions within the international system derived exclusively from observational security data. This new measure provides continuous, yearly, country-level security position scores for each state in the international system which reflect a state's level of security coordination with US-led security hegemony. This new measure of state security positions is comparable with widely used measures of state ideology and provides a new tool for international relations research. Independently derived measures of state ideology and security relationships allow for better understanding and prediction of foreign policy outcomes.