George Lawson IR100 - The structure of international society: democratic peace theory (week 5)...
Transcript of George Lawson IR100 - The structure of international society: democratic peace theory (week 5)...
George Lawson
IR100 - The structure of international society: democratic peace theory (week 5)Lecture slides
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Lawson, G. (2012) IR100 - The structure of international society: democratic peace theory (week 5). [Teaching Resource]
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Democratic Peace Theory
IR100 Lecture 5 2011-12George Lawson
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Democratic peace theory is SERIOUSImportant to lots of big events, e.g. Iraq, Libya,
Arab SpringSpeaks to broader orientations as students of IRLinks theory and practice
Immanuel Kant
Articles for a Perpetual Peace
Republican constitutions best link individual autonomy with political community
Republican states will form a ‘pacific union’ which settles disputes by law, not war
Universal cosmopolitan existence will spread around the world
So, in democratic states: War is irrationalWar is wrongPacific union rules ok
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Modern DPT‘Democratic states do not go to war with
each other’‘As close to an empirical law as we have in IR
today’
Definitional issuesWhat is a democracy?
Universal suffragePolitical and civil rightsCan democracies have monarchs? Or empires?
What is a war?1,000 battle deadBut: new wars, virtual wars, war on drugs,
covert ops, near misses etc
EvidenceMonadic claim: democratic states are more
peaceful than non-democratic states (little evidence)
Dyadic claim: democracies are peaceful with respect to one another (some evidence)
Triadic claim: democracy + free trade + IOs/international law = perpetual peace (good luck)
CausationDomestic constraints, shared values, trade,
interdependence, and more = democratic zone of peace
But … can we prove it?Wrong end of the telescopeWhy aren’t democracies generally peace
loving?What about capitalism?
Therefore … DPT is a normative claim allied to a correlation of which there is some evidence. But how significant is this finding?
Democratization is dangerous
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Lets vote …
The formation of modern international society
The structure of contemporary international society
Balance of power vs. democratic peace theory
Modern international society was primarily formed by:
1 2 3 4 5
25% 25%
50%
0%0%
1. The Treaty of Westphalia (i.e. 1648 and all that)
2. Global modernity (i.e. the 19th century and all that)
3. Neither4. Both5. What a silly question:
international society is an unchanging realm of recurrence and repetition
The structure of contemporary international society is best seen as:
1 2 3 4 5
50%
0%
50%
0%0%
1. A core-periphery order with the West at the centre
2. An anarchical system in which sovereign states prioritize their security
3. An anarchical society in which institutions provide stability and order
4. Decentred globalism
5. Something else ...
Which theory delivers the jammiest jam in the IR doughnut:
1. Balance of power theory
2. Democratic peace theory
3. Neither – IR is a polo mint
4. Sorry, I’m too busy stuffing my face with this delicious doughnut – what was the question again?
Ok – that’s all folks
Remember that the task is not perfection, but ‘clear fuzziness’
And remember to keep in touch: [email protected]