If all states were democratic, would we ever go to war? A critical analysis of the democratic peace proposition.

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If all states were democratic, would we ever go to war?

A critical analysis of the democratic peace proposition by Harry Rhys Brooks.

Word Count: 2,350

Seminar Tutor: James Malcolm, Thursday 9am.


The idea that Democracy inclines states toward peace is a widely held idea by liberal thinkers, and on looking at the superficial evidence provided we could assume that if all states were democratic, then there would be no war. Democracy, its values and the expansion of free trade have been seen as pacifying factors since the Enlightenment, these factors along with those such as the rise of feminism and the existence of democratic international organisations will be mentioned. This essay will analyse the strengths and shortcomings of democratic peace theory using empirical data of previous conflicts and also the discussion of academic debates including renowned writers such as Immanuel Kant and David Spiro. This paper will draw on liberal ideas in order to strengthen the argument for democratic peace and utilise realist thinking in order to critique it. The essay will conclude with a succinct summary of the analysis presented and attempt to reach a critical judgement of the essay question.

The nature of democracy and the values that are associated with it are tantamount to understanding why democratic states are less likely to go to war with each other and that if all states were democratic; we would see minimal levels of international conflict. Democracy by definition can be perceived as  ‘a process in which citizens freely exercise their political rights and reconcile interests without resort to violence’ (Cortright, 2008, p. 233) and in this respect its basic ideology is rooted in cooperation and non violence as governments are prone ‘externalise their domestic norms of conflict resolution’ (Rosato, 2005), that is that if a state uses peaceful means to resolve internal political conflict then they are highly likely to utilise the same means with regards to international relations. This creates a strong building block in the foundation of democratic peace theory which is further supported by the values which democracy promotes and the mechanisms by which it functions.

The normative values and workings of democracy are also important in explaining democratic peace theory. Jonathan Schell described liberally democratic values as essentially ‘a peace movement’ (Schell, 2003), by this Schell means that it is the liberal assumption of good will that leads democracy to be more peaceful as the good will of the people is represented in the government and therefore represented in foreign affairs. In addition to this, democratic values were ‘developed and conceived of as remedies against violent conflicts’ (Karstedt, 2006), meaning that the core values of democracy are the antithesis of hostility and conflict, lending themselves to the view that democracy is a crucial proponent of peace. We could also say that the mechanisms by which democracy work, help us to understand the peaceful effect of democracy. Kant mentions ‘democratic restraint’ (Kant, 1957) which refers to the responsibility of governments to act cautiously as to not lose public favour and therefore control, this institutional logic denotes that the ‘sanctioning and monitoring of democratic leaders is a relatively straightforward matter’ (Rosato, 2003). In Perpetual Peace, Kant also mentions the divide of power within democratic government which acts as a diluter of power and discourages unpopular political activity, when we look at this in conjunction with the mechanisms of democracy, democratic peace theory gains validity.

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The mechanisms and bureaucracy of democracy also contribute to conflict aversion. The two main aspects of democracy in question are the speed of mobilisation and the inability for governments to plan surprise attacks. Democratic governments need substantial amounts of time in order to persuade the electorate and potential dissenters that the war is just and necessary. In the same way, the slow mobilisation of democracies is further compounded by the fact that it must be planned in the public domain, prohibiting surprise attacks and allowing time for peaceful resolution in the mean time (Rosato, 2003). The next factor which can ...

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