Political Science

Online Course
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Political Science For UGC NTA NET-JRF and
Online Course UPSC Political Science Optional

1. Indian Constitution and Polity

2. Western Political Thought
3. Political Theory
4. Comparative Politics
5. International Relations
6. Public Administration
7. Indian Political Thought
 For Enrollment
Contact Through WhatsApp

+91 8210792395
Note : Course is only Available in India
International Calls and Messages will not be entertained
 Democratic Peace Theory

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Liberalism in International Relations
It does not mean that democracies do not go
to war at all, democracies do fight against
Democratic Peace Theory non-democracies

Democracies do not go to war with each other

Democracy Peace
 Democratic Peace Theory

© Saar Concepts
Liberalism in International Relations
It does not mean that democracies do not go
to war at all, democracies do fight against
Democratic Peace Theory non-democracies

Democracies do not go to war with each other

Democracy Peace

• Regular elections for the most powerful government positions

• Competitive Political Parties
• Near-Universal Franchise
• Secret Balloting
• Respect for Civil Liberties and Political Rights
 Democratic Peace Theory

© Saar Concepts
Liberalism in International Relations
It does not mean that democracies do not go
to war at all, democracies do fight against
Democratic Peace Theory non-democracies

Democracies do not go to war with each other

Democracy Peace

• Peace is based on the minimum requirement of absence of war.

• What is war ?
∙ A government sanctioned militarized dispute between
States.
∙ a military engagement in which 1000 or more people are
killed.
Democratic Peace Theory

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Correlates of War Project

It is an academic study of history of warfare started in 1963

at University of Michigan by Political Scientist
J. David Singer

• 353 pairs of States engaged in War between 1816-1991

− 155 pairs involved a democracy and a

non-democracy
− 198 pairs involved two non-democratic States
fighting each other
− No war took place between two democracies.
 Democratic Peace Theory
Liberalism in International Relations
Democratic Peace Theory
This idea was further
developed by authors such as
Michael Doyle (1986) and
Bruce Russet (1993)
© Saar Concepts
It does not mean that democracies do not go
to war at all, democracies do fight against
non-democracies
Democracies do not go to war with each other
The core argument of democratic peace is derived from the
German Enlightenment Philosopher Immanuel Kant’s idea
of Perpetual Peace (1795)
He argued that Republics (division of power and
representative govt.) are less war prone than non-republics.
It is to these authors that we assign the
‘Democratic Peace Theory’
Democratic Peace Theory

© Saar Concepts
What causes Democratic Peace ?

Why democracies do not go to war against each other ?

Structural-Institutional Constraints Normative-Cultural Factors

 Democratic Peace Theory

© Saar Concepts
Causal factors for Democratic Peace

• Structural Institutional Constraints

→ Lack of public support (Citizen’s personal preference against war)

− Citizens are hesitant to support war unless they feel threatened or unless
the benefits of war are greater than its costs
− Democratic leaders are restrained by resistance of their people bearing the
cost and death of war.

→ Institutional Decision making

− In a dictatorship, military command is unrestrained by civilian control and

thus are able to mobilize military support more quickly than in democracies
∙ In democracies, institutional decision makings requires prior
parliamentary approval for troop deployment.
 Democratic Peace Theory

© Saar Concepts
Causal factors for Democratic Peace

• Normative Cultural Factors

− Democracies may incorporate norms that support peaceful behavior.

− The presence of a democratic culture of negotiations and conciliation means that in
their interactions with other democracies, democratic leaders are dovish.

∙ They share the same value and thus are more willing to negotiate than fight.
∙ Disagreements are resolved through compromise and negotiations
rather than conflict and coercion.

∙ because undemocratic States do not follow norms of compromise,

democracies distrust them and treat them with hostility.
Democratic Peace Theory

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Evaluation

• Implications of Democratic Peace to the World order

→ Optimists believe that democracy will spread around the world and the world
will become more peaceful.

→ Pessimists note that democratic States are generally hostile towards

non-democratic states.
∙ Unless todays’ democracies actively encourage the process of
democratization, there will not be a peaceful world order. At best,
democracies will enjoy peace among themselves but the rest of the world
will remain plagued by war.
Democratic Peace Theory

© Saar Concepts
Critical Analysis

• Challengers of the democratic peace disputes whether it is indeed democracy that makes a
difference, or whether it is the case that like minded states generally are more peaceful to
each other than the outsiders.

• According to Realists, the idea that democracies externalize their norms has been widely
empirically disproved, especially during European Imperialism.
− Not only did democracies infringe on democratic norms in their external behavior
but their existence did not even appear to play a decisive role in their foreign
policy decisions.
∙ The reason behind the absence of major military conflict between
democracies in the post-1945 period in the international system is the
power distribution of the international system.