The Democratic Peace Theory De essays

The Democratic Peace Theory De essays If all states were democracies there would be no more wars. This is the statement that the Democratic Peace Theory claims to be true. It is a decidedly difficult statement to agree with however because at a glance it would appear that democracies are involved in war nearly as often as any other type of regime. In fact there is hardly one type of characteristic that explains a particular country's likelihood of war- not a nations economic position, ideology, or domestic situation, nor any other obvious characteristic. In his executive summary, Perils of a democratic peace, Mike Brookes claims that the Democratic Peace Theory appears to be based on two assumptions that aren't necessarily reality. The first, being that democracy is welcome and desirable across the globe. The second, being that democratic peace will ensure the security of states. Both of these assumptions pose no guarantees and therefore may pose a problem to the Democratic Peace Theory. To investigate the validity of the Democratic Peace Theory we must first look at the history of the involvement of democracies in wars. We must also look at what the present reasons for democracies not going to war are, and what some of the possible problems facing the possibility of democratically peaceful world are. In his book, Never at War: Why Democracies Will Not Fight One Another, Specer R. Weart states that the idea that free peoples would not go to war with each other had been developed by 1785. At a time when there were scarcely any democracies in existence the philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote in Perpetual Peace that a world where every state is a democracy would be a world of perpetual peace. However, democratic belligerence has been such a problem that it can be found almost everywhere democracies have existed. Even as early as fifth century BC the rocky coast where Dubrovnik now stands was the scene of deadly wars involving free governments. More recently in history...