Democracies are more peaceful in their foreign relations. Comment (150 Words - 10 Marks)
Democratic peace is the kantian proposition that democracies are more peaceful in their foreign relations. Democratic peace theory is perhaps the strongest contribution liberalism makes to IR theory. It asserts that democratic states are highly unlikely to go to war with one another. There is a two-part explanation for this phenomenon.
- Firstly, democratic states are characterised by internal restraints on power. Democracies have a much lower rate of conflict with one another compared to non-democracies. Hence democracies may be more inclined to seek peaceful resolution of conflicts and less likely to resort to military force.
- Secondly, democracies tend to see each other as legitimate and unthreatening and therefore have a higher capacity for cooperation with each other than they do with non-democracies. Statistical analysis and historical case studies provide strong support for democratic peace theory.
However several issues continue to be debated.
Concerns
- Firstly, democracy is a relatively recent development in human history. This means there are few cases of democracies having the opportunity to fight one another.
- Secondly, we cannot be sure whether it is truly a ‘democratic’ peace or whether some other factors correlated with democracy are the source of peace – such as power, alliances, culture, economics and so on.
- Thirdly while democracies are unlikely to go to war with one another, some scholarship suggests that they are likely to be aggressive toward non-democracies – such as when the United States went to war with Iraq in 2003.
Despite the debate, the possibility of a democratic peace gradually replacing a world of constant war – as described by realists – is an enduring and important facet of liberalism.
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