Democratizing for peace
By: WARD, Michael D
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Contributor(s): GLENDITSCH, Kristian S.
Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, March 1998American Political Science Review 92, 1, p. 51-62Abstract: In this article we examine the monadic aspects of the democratic peace proposition by revisiting the question of whether democratizing states are less war prone than autocratic states. Our focus is upon the process of how exactly states become more or less democratically governed. We probe whether this may help explain why democracies apparently are not very likely to wage war with other democracies. In focusing on transitions, we follow the suggestion of Mansfield and Snyder (1995a, 1995b) that immature democracies undergoing rapid institutional change may be more prone to war involvement. We do not systematically examine simultaneous factors that may explain the differing relationships between political structure and conflict behavior found on the various levels of analysis. We ignore the characteristics of other societies. We also do not address the issue of the actual timing of changes in political or institutional arrangements and structures, an unexplored aspect in the extant data on regime characteristics. Instead, we focus on another set of neglected features of domestic political structure with possible implications for conflict behavior: the effects of political transitions and regime change. In short, we reexamine whether democratizing states are more war prone. We also examine whether reversals of the democratization process tend to threaten peace.
In this article we examine the monadic aspects of the democratic peace proposition by revisiting the question of whether democratizing states are less war prone than autocratic states. Our focus is upon the process of how exactly states become more or less democratically governed. We probe whether this may help explain why democracies apparently are not very likely to wage war with other democracies. In focusing on transitions, we follow the suggestion of Mansfield and Snyder (1995a, 1995b) that immature democracies undergoing rapid institutional change may be more prone to war involvement. We do not systematically examine simultaneous factors that may explain the differing relationships between political structure and conflict behavior found on the various levels of analysis. We ignore the characteristics of other societies. We also do not address the issue of the actual timing of changes in political or institutional arrangements and structures, an unexplored aspect in the extant data on regime characteristics. Instead, we focus on another set of neglected features of domestic political structure with possible implications for conflict behavior: the effects of political transitions and regime change. In short, we reexamine whether democratizing states are more war prone. We also examine whether reversals of the democratization process tend to threaten peace.
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