Why might democracies be more peaceful in their relations with each other than with states that are not democracies?

WHY MIGHT DEMOCRACIES BE MORE PEACEFUL IN THEIR RELATIONS WITH EACH OTHER THAN WITH STATES THAT ARE NOT DEMOCRACIES

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21 December 2008

Why Might Democracies Be More Peaceful In Their Relations With Each Other Than With States That Are Not Democracies

Introduction

Since the middle of the 20th century , international relations professionals have become particularly interested in the theoretical thesis that democratic regimes are less likely to be involved into military conflicts with each other than with non-democratic states . That does not mean that

democratic states do not participate in wars rather they seem to avoid serious military conflicts with each other . As a result of profound historical analysis , the democratic peace assumption has turned into a universally accepted diplomatic law , but how plausible the democratic peace ' theory may seem , it requires objective and detailed review . In this context , researchers are still far from finding the single and the most relevant answer to the question why democracies are more peaceful in relations with each other than with other non-democratic states

Democracy and peace : the history of the international thought

The idea that democracies do not fight each other is relatively old and dates back to the end of the 18th century , when Immanuel Kant published his famous work Perpetual Peace . Despite the fact that Kant did not favour democracies as such , he has actually laid the foundation for the development of one of the major diplomatic theories in the history of international relations . In Kant 's...