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Democratic peace theory
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==History== [[File:Numbers of autocracies and democracies.png|thumb|{{legend-line|red solid 2px|Democracies}} {{legend-line|blue solid 2px|Autocracies}}{{sfn | Roser | 2013}}]] [[Image:Immanuel Kant portrait c1790.jpg|thumb|upright|German philosopher [[Immanuel Kant]], {{Circa|1790}}]] Though the democratic peace theory was not rigorously or scientifically studied until the 1960s, the basic principles of the concept had been argued as early as the 18th century in the works of philosopher [[Immanuel Kant]]{{sfn|Imai|Lo|2021}} and political theorist [[Thomas Paine]]. Kant foreshadowed the theory in his essay ''[[Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch]]'' written in 1795, although he thought that a world with only constitutional republics was only one of several necessary conditions for a perpetual peace. In earlier but less cited works, Thomas Paine made similar or stronger claims about the peaceful nature of republics. Paine wrote in "[[Common Sense]]" in 1776: "The Republics of Europe are all (and we may say always) in peace." Paine argued that kings would go to war out of pride in situations where republics would not.{{sfn|Levy|Thompson|2011}}{{sfn|Paine|1945|p=27}} French historian and social scientist [[Alexis de Tocqueville]] also argued, in ''[[Democracy in America]]'' (1835–1840), that democratic nations were less likely to wage war.{{efn|"When the principle of equality spreads, as in Europe now, not only within one nation, but at the same time among several neighboring peoples, the inhabitants of these various countries, despite different languages, customs, and laws, always resemble each other in an equal fear of war and love of peace. In vain do ambitious or angry princes arm for war; in spite of themselves, they are calmed down by some sort of general apathy and goodwill which makes the sword fall from their hands. Wars become rarer."{{sfn|Tocqueville|1988|pp=659–660}}}} [[Herbert Spencer]] also argued for a relationship between democracy and peace.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bernard |first=L. L. |date=1916 |title=War and the Democratic State |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2763820 |journal=American Journal of Sociology |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=193–202 |doi=10.1086/212604 |jstor=2763820 |issn=0002-9602|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Dean Babst]], a criminologist, was the first to do statistical research on this topic. His academic paper supporting the theory was published in 1964 in ''Wisconsin Sociologist'';{{sfn|Babst|1964}} he published a slightly more popularized version, in 1972, in the trade journal ''Industrial Research''.{{sfn|Babst|1972}} Both versions initially received little attention. [[Melvin Small]] and [[J. David Singer]] responded; they found an absence of wars between democratic states with two "marginal exceptions", but denied that this pattern had statistical significance. This paper was published in the ''Jerusalem Journal of International Relations'' which finally brought more widespread attention to the theory, and started the academic debate.{{sfn|Small|Singer|1976|pp=50-69}} A 1983 paper by political scientist [[Michael W. Doyle]] contributed further to popularizing the theory. Maoz and Abdolali extended the research to lesser conflicts than wars.{{sfn|Maoz|Abdolali|1989}} Bremer, Maoz and Russett found the correlation between democracy and peacefulness remained significant after controlling for many possible confounding variables.{{sfn|Bremer|1992}}{{sfn|Maoz|Russett|1993}} This moved the theory into the mainstream of social science. Supporters of [[realism in international relations]] and others responded by raising many new objections. Other researchers attempted more systematic explanations of how democracy might cause peace,{{sfn|Köchler|1995}} and of how democracy might also affect other aspects of foreign relations such as alliances and collaboration.{{sfn|Ray|2003}} There have been numerous further studies in the field since these pioneering works.{{efn|See Rummel, who is partisan, and the bibliography lacks some recent papers, but is nonetheless one of the better introductions to the subject.{{sfn|Rummel|n.d.}}}} Most studies have found some form of democratic peace exists, although neither methodological disputes nor doubtful cases are entirely resolved.{{sfn|Kinsella|2005}}
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