Democracy and Interstate War

Abstract

The study of democracy and interstate war is a flourishing theme in political science, particularly since the 1970s. However, there are four reasons why democracy does not cause peace, and why the empirical support for the popular idea of democratic peace is quite weak. Most statistical studies do not find a strong correlation between democracy and interstate war at the dyadic level, and they show that there are other—more powerful—explanations for war and peace, or even that the impact of democracy is a spurious one. Moreover, the theoretical foundation of the democratic peace hypothesis is weak, and the causal mechanisms are unclear. In addition, democracies are not necessarily more peaceful in general, and the evidence for the democratic peace hypothesis at the monadic level is inconclusive. Finally, the process of democratization is dangerous and living in a democratizing country means living in a less peaceful country. Hence, with regard to peace between countries, we cannot defend the idea that democracy has instrumental value.