Lecture 26: Democratic Peace, Part 2

Vocabulary flashcards covering the various theoretical explanations—Realist, Liberal, Strategic, and Bargaining—for the democratic peace phenomenon based on Lecture 26.

Democratic Peace

A robust empirical relationship characterized by the fact that democracies are very unlikely to experience conflict with each other, though there is no consensus on why this occurs.

Realist Explanation (Democratic Peace)

The view that domestic variables like regime type do not matter and that peace is instead caused by common enemies, such as the USSR during the Cold War.

Liberal Normative Explanation

The theory that democratic leaders prefer negotiation because conflict is resolved non-violently within democracies, leading to peaceful outcomes during crises.

Liberal Structural Explanation

The theory that power-sharing across democratic government structures makes these states slow to go to war, providing diplomats more time to find peaceful solutions.

Strategic Explanation

The theory based on the assumption that leaders want to retain office and will lose it if they lose a war; therefore, two democracies only fight if both expect to win and are willing to pay high costs.

Bargaining Explanation

The theory that democratic transparency (opposition parties, free press) reduces uncertainty and allows leaders to "tie their hands" to credibly commit to bargains.

Transparency

A feature of democracies, including opposition parties and a free press, that reduces private information worries and uncertainty in international bargaining.

Critical Test

An experimental or empirical requirement currently lacking that would allow researchers to differentiate between the competing theories of the democratic peace.