There is a widespread belief, among both political scientists and government policymakers, that "democracies don't fight each other." Here Joanne Gowa challenges that belief. In a thorough, systematic critique, she shows that, while democracies were less likely than other states to engage each other in armed conflicts between 1945 and 1980, they were just as likely to do so as were other states before 1914. Thus, no reason exists to believe that a democratic peace will survive the end of the Cold War. Since U.S. foreign policy is currently directed toward promoting democracy abroad, Gowa's findings are especially timely and worrisome.
Those who assert that a democratic peace exists typically examine the 1815-1980 period as a whole. In doing so, they conflate two very different historical periods: the pre-World War I and post-World War II years. Examining these periods separately, Gowa shows that a democratic peace prevailed only during the later period. Given the collapse of the Cold War world, her research calls into question both the conclusions of previous researchers and the wisdom of present U.S. foreign policy initiatives.
By re-examining the arguments and data that have been used to support beliefs about a democratic peace, Joanne Gowa has produced a thought-provoking book that is sure to be controversial.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
Fantastically useful:
I read Gowa's book for a graduate course, and found it to be immensely helpful for contextualizing international relations debate. She writes in a clear style and her insights are well-articulated. Highly recommended - research is also meticulous and precisely documented.
Best insights on elusive American Democratic Peace thesis:
Joanne Gowa's thinking is clear with full of empirical investigations on "interest-based explanation" free from often unnecessary and misguided value-judgment prevalent in liberal thoughts. Gowa not only makes it possible that the richness of realism continues but she also authoritatively put an end to the so-called value-laden "Democratic Peace" thesis... Very well written and well researched with full of theoretical insights and policy implications.... ...
Great Book!:
This book was a really good read, and helped me out greatly with my political science course. Highly recommended!
Privacy policy: we don't collect information
about visitors except for the standard technical server logs. We don't send unsolicited emails. We don't
sell the information that we don't collect about you to anyone. When you follow
links to other sites, their privacy policies apply. Thanks for visiting!
