Democratic peace theory

Democratic peace theory holds that democracies are less likely to wage war against other democracies than against nondemocratic states.

Normative explanation of the democratic peace: An account that attributes democratic peace to norms of compromise and nonviolent conflict resolution between democracies. It explains how shared expectations of peaceful bargaining may restrain disputes between democratic states.
Immanuel Kant: An eighteenth-century philosopher whose political writings argued that republican government could help establish peace. His account of republican peace supplied a foundational argument later associated with democratic peace.
War of 1812: A war between the United States and Britain fought from 1812 to 1815. Whether Britain counted as a democracy makes this conflict a disputed test case.
Capitalist peace: The claim that market economies and economic interdependence reduce the likelihood of war. It offers economic conditions, rather than democracy alone, as a source of peace.
Institutional explanation of the democratic peace: An account that attributes democratic peace to political constraints, public accountability, and the costs of obtaining consent for war. It links electoral checks and divided authority to leaders’ ability to start wars.
Perpetual Peace: Immanuel Kant’s 1795 essay outlining conditions for a lasting peace among states. It states the republican-government argument that anticipates one strand of the theory.
American Civil War: The 1861–1865 war between the United States and the Confederacy over secession and slavery. It raises the question of whether civil wars belong in a theory about peace between states.
Commercial peace: The claim that trade and economic interdependence discourage armed conflict between states. It separates a possible trade-based explanation from the regime-based claim.
Audience costs: Domestic political penalties leaders may face for making threats and then backing down. Credible threats and public accountability can help democracies resolve crises without fighting.
Michael Doyle: An international relations scholar who helped revive and systematize research on liberal peace in the 1980s. His work connected Kant’s political argument to modern studies of democratic conflict.

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