Abstract
The theory of democratic peace was first invented by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant in his 1795 article “Permanent Peace.” In this paper, Kant argues that states with governments of constitutional republics are less likely to go to war because doing so requires the consent of the people who would be at war. While monarch kings and queens can unilaterally declare war, given the security of their subjects, a government elected by the people takes the decision more seriously. The United States first promoted the concepts of democratic peace theory in 1832 by adopting the Monroe Doctrine. In this historic part of international politics, the US has affirmed that it will not tolerate the attempts of European monarchies to colonize any democratic nation in North or South America.
TopIntroduction
Democratic peace theory (or liberal democratic theory, or simply democratic peace) is a popular theory that democratic regimes, or more narrowly liberal democratic regimes, do not go to war with each other.
Proponents of the theory of democratic peace identify several factors that contribute to the onset of peace between democratic states:
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Democratic leaders are forced to admit guilt for the defeat in the war before the voting public;
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Publicly accountable statesmen tend to create diplomatic institutions to resolve international tensions;
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Democracies do not tend to view countries with related policies and governance doctrines as hostile;
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Democracies tend to have more public wealth than other states and therefore avoid war in order to preserve infrastructure and resources.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Integration: Implies the adoption of policies by separate countries as if they were a single political unit. The degree of integration is often tested by seeing whether interest rates or share prices or the prices of goods are the same in different national markets.
Democratic Peace: The proposition that democracies are more peaceful in their foreign relations.
Democratic Peace Theory: Posits that democracies are hesitant to engage in armed conflict with other identified democracies. Among proponents of the democratic peace theory, several factors are held as motivating peace between democratic states.
Liberalism: A political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed and equality before the law.
European Union: A political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe.
Waves of Democracy: The term, popularized by Huntington (1991), can be conceptualized in at least three ways: as rises in the global level of democracy, as periods of positive net transitions to democracy, and as linked sets of transitions to democracy.
Democracy: A form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (“direct democracy”), or to choose governing officials to do so (“representative democracy”). Who is considered part of “the people” and how authority is shared among or delegated by the people has changed over time and at different rates in different countries, but over time more and more of a democratic country's inhabitants have generally been included. Cornerstones of democracy include freedom of assembly, association and speech, inclusiveness and equality, citizenship, consent of the governed, voting rights, freedom from unwarranted governmental deprivation of the right to life and liberty, and minority rights.