Govt & Pol -WK 8 Democracy, Peace and Security

Democratic Peace Theory

democratic nations are less likely to engage in armed conflict with one another

How does Levy, 1989 describe democratic peace theory?

“the closest thing we have to an empirical law in the study of international relations.”

What are the 2 key assumptions of democratic peace theory?

1. democratic states do not go to war against each other

2. democracies are far less likely to descend into civil war or intrastate violence

What is the rationale of the 1st pt that “democratic states do not go to war against each other”

• Democracies trust each other bc they share social & cultural norms

• Leaders of a democracy respond to the public & will only go to war when they can win/when they have public support

• Democratic states are more economically independent, & therefore war is less likely

=>Thus, proponents believe that the international system will become more peaceful with the increase of democratic states

What is the rationale of the 2nd pt that “democracies are far less likely to descend into civil war and intrastate violence

• provides peaceful ways of ameliorating domestic tensions before the escalate into violence, engendering a democratic civil peace

• Countries more internally stable & peaceful = greater levels of international security

Where did these key assumptions of democracy come from?

Cornerstone of much of western foreign policy since end of cold-war, underscoring contemporary democracy promotion practises

Key elements of democracy:

• Free & fair elections

• universal suffrage (voting)

• some protection of basic civil liberties (freedom of expression, information, association(

• Responsible government

How does Dahl, 1971 summarise democracy?

“Citizens must have unimpaired opportunities to formulate their preferences, signify them, and have them weighted equally.”

How is authoritarianism typically defined?

the absence of these key characteristics of democracy

is there a clear distinction betw. democracy & authoritarianism?

• No. there is no clear distinction between democracy & authoritarianism

  • Instead, these 2 regime types exist on a continuum, & many (if not most) states exist somewhere in between

Are there many hybrid or authoritarian regimes?

Hybrid & authoritarian regimes together constitute a majority of regime types around the world (53%) & characterise especially many regimes of the global south

What are hybrid & flawed democratic regimes? (put simply)

combine authoritarian characteristics w/ democratic ones

What are key examples of flawed democracies & hybrid regimes?

• Democratic mechanisms – like elections – but they might be weakly institutionalised; E.g. subject to manipulation, fraud,

• An executive branch of government that holds tremendous power

• State control over the media

• Politicized state institutions (e.g. police or judiciary) -  i.e. they are under direct control of the government

• Weak rule of law

According to Diamond (2002) what are the regime classifications of levels of democracy?

1. Closed Autocracy - No multiparty elections for chief executive or legislature (e.g. North Korea)

2. Electoral Autocracy - De-jure (legally there are) multiparty elections for chief executive & legislature. Basically imitative democracy