Democracy and foreign affairs. (EVANS, Graham; NEWNHAM, Jeffrey.

Dictionary of International
Relations. p. 119-121)

First, that democracies are deficient in the formulation and conduct of

foreign policy the de Toqueville thesis. Second, that democracies are more
peace-loving than other kinds of political systems and seldom, if ever, go to
war against one another the Kantian or democratic peace thesis. (p.119)

As duas proposies se tornaram consenso nas Relaes Internacionais.

[According to Toqueville, democracies] are prone to impulse rather than
prudence. Therefore they can be slow responding to crises and when it
comes, the response is likely to be extreme. In addition there are two things
that a democratic people will always find difficult, to start a war and to end
it. The reason for this state of affairs, according to Toqueville, is the
intrusion of domestic politics into foreign policy making and the constant
need to respond to public opinion. (p.119)

Diferente de regimes autoritrios, democracias tendem a responder s crises

com maior lentido e menos racionalidade, pois as polticas adotadas pelas mesmas
tendem a refletir os interesses do eleitorado, que difcil de ser ouvido de forma rpida,
e rejeita a possibilidade de se iniciarem conflitos armados.
() throughout the twentieth century, but particularly during the Cold War,
democratic societies and their leaderships were acutely conscious of these
apparent policy shortcomings. () constitutional arrangements virtually
always allocate the balance of advantage in foreign policy conduct to the
executive over other branches of government preciley because of an
awareness of the de Toqueville problem. (p.120)

Em vista das dificuldades citadas, ocorre com frequncia o afastamento entre

poltica externa e democracia, tornando-se hbito nas democracias ocidentais reservar
exclusivamente a rgos do poder Executivo a influncia sobre a formulao da poltica
externa. dessa forma que ocorre inclusive no Brasil, por meio do Itamaraty, conforme
modelo tambm seguido nos EUA (Presidncia) e Reino Unido (Cabinet and Foreign
and Commonwealth Office).