Conclusion

Study

There is a growing body of empirical evidence suggesting that democracies do not go to war with one another, and political scientists have termed this finding the "democratic peace." There are many theories that offer explanations for this phenomenon. From the identity perspective, for example, some suggest that perhaps democracies are inherently peaceful or that they avoid war on account of their shared norms. The liberal perspective, on the other hand, is likely to explain this correlation in terms of democracies' high levels of trade with one another, common institutional membership, or unique negotiating advantages that allow them to reach settlements other than war. The realist perspective often attributes this phenomenon to the fact that democracies often belong to the same alliances or that they are able to deftly use balance of power politics to avoid war. Critical theory perspectives, finally, dismiss the findings as simply a historical phenomenon associated with American hegemony.

Study Questions

1. What is the democratic peace, and what evidence exists to support it?
   
   
   
2. What is an explanation that liberal scholars give to account for the democratic peace?
   
   
   
3. What are some potential challenges to the democratic peace?