Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T01:24:15.809Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Hollow promises?’ Critical materialism and the contradictions of the Democratic Peace

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2012

John MacMillan
John MacMillan*
Affiliation:
Department of Politics and History, Brunel University, London, UK
*
E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Democratic Peace research programme explicitly and implicitly presents its claims in terms of their potential to underpin a universal world peace. Yet whilst the Democratic Peace appears robust in its geographical heartlands it appears weaker at the edges of the democratic world, where the spread of democracy and the depth of democratic political development is often limited and where historically many of the purported exceptions to the Democratic Peace are found. Whereas Democratic Peace scholarship has tended to overlook or downplay these phenomena, from a critical materialist perspective they are indicative of a fundamental contradiction within the Democratic Peace whereby its universalistic aspirations are thwarted by its material grounding in a hierarchical capitalist world economy. This, in turn, raises the question of whether liberal arguments for a universal Democratic Peace are in fact hollow promises. The article explores these concerns and argues that those interested in democracy and peace should pay more attention to the critical materialist tradition, which in the discussion below is represented principally by the world-system approach.

Keywords

Democratic Peacecritical materialismworld-system theory
Type
Original Papers
Information
International Theory , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , November 2012 , pp. 331 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amin, Samir. 1993. “The Issue of Democracy in the Contemporary Third World.” In Low Intensity Democracy: Political Power in the New World Order, edited by Barry Gills, Joel Rocamora, and Richard Wilson, 59–79. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Angell, Norman. 1913. The Great Illusion. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Arrighi, Giovanni. 2010/1994. The Long Twentieth Century. Money Power and the Origins of Our Times. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Barbieri, Katherine. 2002. The Liberal Illusion: Does Trade Promote Peace? Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Barkawi, Tarak. 2001. “War inside the Free World: The Democratic Peace and the Cold War in the Third World.” In Democracy, Liberalism, and War, edited by Tarak Barkawi, and Mark Laffey, 107–128. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Barkawi, TarakLaffey, Mark. 1999. “The Imperial Peace: Democracy, Force and Globalization.” European Journal of International Relations 5(4):403–434.Google Scholar
Benoit, Kenneth. 1996. “Democracies Really Are More Pacific (in General).” Journal of Conflict Resolution 40(4):636–657.Google Scholar
Berghahn, Volker R. 1993. Germany and the Approach of War in 1914, 2d ed., Bedford: St Martins.Google Scholar
Boix, Carles. 2011. “Democracy, Development, and the International System.” American Political Science Review 105(4):809–828.Google Scholar
Boix, CarlesStokes, Susan. 2003. “Endogenous Democratization.” World Politics 55(4):517–549.Google Scholar
Brenner, Robert. 1977. “The Origins of Capitalist Development: A Critique of Neo-Smithian Marxism.” New Left Review I(104):25–92.Google Scholar
Brewer, Anthony. 1990. Marxist Theories of Imperialism: A Critical Survey, 2d ed., London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Brown, Michael E., Lynn-Jones, Sean M.Miller, Steven E.. (eds). 1996. Debating the Democratic Peace. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, Morrow, James D., Siverson, Randolph M.Smith, Alastair. 1999. “An Institutional Explanation of the Democratic Peace.” American Political Science Review 93(4):791–807.Google Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, Smith, Alastair, Siverson, Randolph M.Morrow, James D.. 2003. The Logic of Political Survival. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Cammack, Paul. 1989. “Bringing the State Back In?” British Journal of Political Science 19(2):261–290.Google Scholar
Carothers, Thomas. 2002. “The End of the Transition Paradigm.” Journal of Democracy 13(1):5–21.Google Scholar
Cederman, Lars-Erik, Weidmann, Nils B.Gleditsch, Kristian Skrede. 2011. “Horizontal Inequalities and Ethnonationalist Civil War: A Global Comparison.” American Political Science Review 105(3):478–495.Google Scholar
Chan, Stephen. 1997. “In Search of Democratic Peace: Problems and Promise.” Mershon International Studies Review 41(2):59–91.Google Scholar
Chase-Dunn, Christopher. 1981. “Interstate System and Capitalist World-Economy: One Logic or Two?” International Studies Quarterly 25(1):19–42.Google Scholar
Chase-Dunn, Christopher. 1999. “Globalization: A World-Systems Perspective.” Journal of World-Systems Research 2:187–215.Google Scholar
Chase-Dunn, ChristopherGrimes, Peter. 1995. “World-Systems Analysis.” Annual Review of Sociology 21:387–417.Google Scholar
Chase-Dunn, ChristopherPodobnik, Bruce. 1999. “The Next World War: World-System Cycles and Trends.” In The Future of Global Conflict, edited by Volker Bornschier, and Christopher Chase-Dunn, 40–65. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Chase-Dunn, ChristopherInoue, Hiroko. 2012. “Accelerating Democratic Global State Formation.” Cooperation and Conflict 47(2):157–175.Google Scholar
Choi, Seung-Whan. 2011. “Re-Evaluating Capitalist and Democratic Peace Models.” International Studies Quarterly 55:759–769.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1993. “The Struggle for Democracy in the New World Order.” In Low Intensity Democracy: Political Power in the New World Order, edited by Barry Gills, Joel Rocamora, and Richard Wilson, 80–99. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Cramer, Christopher. 2003. “Does Inequality Cause Conflict?” Journal of International Development 15:397–412.Google Scholar
Diamond, Larry. 2008. “The Democratic Rollback. The Resurgence of the Predatory State.” Foreign Affairs 87(2):36–48.Google Scholar
Doyle, Michael W. 1983a. “Kant, Liberal Legacies and Foreign Affairs, Part 1.” Philosophy and Public Affairs 12(3):205–235.Google Scholar
Doyle, Michael W 1983b. “Kant, Liberal Legacies and Foreign Affairs, Part 2.” Philosophy and Public Affairs 12(4):323–353.Google Scholar
Elman, Miriam F. 1997. “Finland in World War II: Alliances, Small States, and the Democratic Peace.” In Paths to Peace: Is Democracy the Answer?, edited by Miriam F. Elman, 191–232. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Epstein, David L., Bates, Robert, Goldstone, Jack, Kristensen, IdaO'Halloran, Sharyn. 2006. “Democratic Transitions.” American Journal of Political Science 50(3):551–569.Google Scholar
Falk, Richard. 1995. “Liberalism at the Global Level: The Last of the Independent Commissions.” Millennium: Journal of International Studies 24(3):563–576.Google Scholar
Forsythe, David P. 1993. “Human Rights and Covert International War.” In Human Rights and Peace, edited by David P. Forsythe, 33–52. Lincoln: University of Nebraska.Google Scholar
Frank, Andre Gunder. 1993. “Marketing Democracy in an Undemocratic Market.” In Low Intensity Democracy: Political Power in the New World Order, edited by Barry Gills, Joel Rocamora, and Richard Wilson, 35–58. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Fukuyama, Francis. 2010. “Is the Age of Democracy Over?” The Spectator, 13 February, 14–15.Google Scholar
Gartzke, Eric. 2007. “The Capitalist Peace.” American Journal of Political Science 51(1):166–191.Google Scholar
Geis, AnnaWagner, Wolfgang. 2011. “How far is it from Königsberg to Kandahar? Democratic Peace and Democratic Violence in International Relations.” Review of International Studies 37:1555–1577.Google Scholar
Geis, Anna, Müller, Harald, Schörnig, Niklas (eds). 2013. The Janus Face of Liberal Democracies: Militant “Forces for Good” (working title). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gelpi, Christopher F.Grieco, Joseph M.. 2008. “Democracy, Interdependence, and the Sources of the Liberal Peace.” Journal of Peace Research 45(1):17–36.Google Scholar
Gills, Barry, Rocamora, JoelWilson, Richard. (eds). 1993. Low Intensity Democracy; Political Power in the New World Order. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Gleditsch, Nils P. 2008. “The Liberal Moment Fifteen Years On.” International Studies Quarterly 52:691–712.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Joshua S. 1985. “Kondratieff Waves as War Cycles.” International Studies Quarterly 29(4):411–444.Google Scholar
Gray, John. 1986. Liberalism. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Haggard, StephenKaufman, Robert R.. 2012. “Inequality and Regime Change: Democratic Transitions and the Stability of Democratic Rule.” American Political Science Review 106(3):495–516.Google Scholar
Halliday, Fred. 2010. “The Cold War: Lessons and Legacies.” Government and Opposition 45(1):1–28.Google Scholar
Hegre, Håvard. 2000. “Development and the Liberal Peace: What Does it Take to be a Trading State?” Journal of Peace Research 37(1):5–30.Google Scholar
Hobson, Christopher, Smith, Tony, Owen, John M., Geis, AnnaIsh-Shalom, Piki. 2011. “Between the Theory and Practice of Democratic Peace.” International Relations 25(2):147–184.Google Scholar
Huber, Evelyne, Rueschemeyer, DietrichStephens, John D.. 1997. “The Paradoxes of Contemporary Democracy: Formal, Participatory and Social Dimensions.” Comparative Politics 29(3):323–342.Google Scholar
Jinkings, Isabella. 2011. “The Neoliberal State and the Penalization of Misery.” Latin American Perspectives 38(5):9–18.Google Scholar
Kant, Immanuel. 1795/1991. “Perpetual Peace.” In Kant: Political Writings, edited by Hans Reiss. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 93–130.Google Scholar
Kautsky, Karl. 1914. “Ultra-Imperialism.” Die Neue Zeit, September. Accessed June 17, 2010. http://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1914/09/ultra-imp.htm.Google Scholar
Korzeniewicz, Roberto P.Awbrey, Kimberley. 1992. “Democratic Transitions and the Semiperiphery of the World-Economy.” Sociological Forum 7(4):609–640.Google Scholar
Lenin, Vladimir I. 1917/1982. Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism. Moscow: Progress.Google Scholar
Lektzian, DavidSouva, Mark. 2009. “A Comparative Theory Test of Democratic Peace Arguments, 1946–2000.” Journal of Peace Research 46(1):17–37.Google Scholar
Linklater, Andrew. 1990. Beyond Realism and Marxism: Critical Theory and International Relations. Basingstoke: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Lippit, Victor D. 2005. Capitalism. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
MacMillan, John. 1998. On Liberal Peace. London: Tauris.Google Scholar
MacMillan, John 2003. “Beyond the Separate Democratic Peace.” Journal of Peace Research 40(2):233–243.Google Scholar
MacMillan, John 2004. “Liberalism and the Democratic Peace.” Review of International Studies 30(4):179–200.Google Scholar
Maoz, ZeevRussett, Bruce. 1993. “Normative and Structural Causes of Democratic Peace.” American Political Science Review 87(3):624–638.Google Scholar
McFaul, Michael. 2007. “Are New Democracies War-Prone?” Journal of Democracy 18(2):160–167.Google Scholar
Merkel, Wolfgang. 2010. “Are Dictatorships Returning?” Revisiting the ‘Democratic Rollback’ Hypothesis 16(1):17–31.Google Scholar
Mousseau, Michael. 2005. “Comparing New Theory with Prior Beliefs: Market Civilization and the Democratic Peace.” Conflict Management and Peace Science 22(1):63–77.Google Scholar
Mousseau, Michael, Hegre, HåvardOneal, John R.. 2003. “How the Wealth of Nations Conditions the Liberal Peace.” European Journal of International Relations 9(2):277–314.Google Scholar
Neocleous, Mark. 1997. Fascism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, Guillermo, Schmitter, P.C.Whitehead, Laurence. (eds). 1986. Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Comparative Perspectives. Baltimore, MD, USA: The Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Oneal, John R.Russett, Bruce. 1997. “The Classical Liberals Were Right: Democracy, Interdependence, and Conflict, 1950–1985.” International Studies Quarterly 41(2):267–294.Google Scholar
Owen, John. 1997. Liberal Peace: Liberal War. New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Parish, Randall, Peceny, MarkDelacour, Justin. 2007. “Venezuela and the Collective Defence of Democracy Regime in the Americas.” Democratization 14(2):207–231.Google Scholar
Przeworski, Adam. 1986. “Some Problems in the Study of the Transition to Democracy.” In Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Comparative Perspectives, edited by Guillermo O'Donnell, Philippe C. Schmitter, and Laurence Whitehead, 47–63. Baltimore, MD, USA: The Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Przeworski, Adam 1991. Democracy and the Market. Political and Economic Reforms in Eastern Europe and Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Przeworski, AdamLimongi, Fernando. 1997. “Modernization: Theories and Facts.” World Politics 49(2):155–183.Google Scholar
Przeworski, Adam, Alvarez, Michael E., Cheibub, Jose Antonio, Limongi, Fernando. 2000. Democracy and Development. Political Institutions and Well-Being in the World, 1950–1990. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ray, James Lee. 1998. “Does Democracy Cause Peace?” Annual Review of Political Science 1:27–46.Google Scholar
Reid, Donald M. 1998. “The Urabi Revolution and the British Conquest, 1879–1882.” In The Cambridge History of Modern Europe, edited by Martin W. Daly, vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 217–238.Google Scholar
Robinson, Ronald, Gallagher, JohnDenny, Alice. 1981. Africa and the Victorians. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Robinson, William I. 1996. Promoting Polyarchy: Globalization, US Intervention and Hegemony. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rosato, Sebastian. 2003. “The Flawed Logic of Democratic Peace Theory.” American Political Science Review 97(4):585–602.Google Scholar
Rosecrance, Richard. 1986. The Rise of the Trading State. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Rueschemeyer, Dietrich, Stephens, Evelyne HuberStephens, John D.. 1992. Capitalist Development and Democracy. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Rummel, Rudolph J. 1997. Power Kills: Democracy as a Method of Nonviolence. New Brunswick: Transaction.Google Scholar
Russett, Bruce. 1993. Grasping the Democratic Peace: Principles for Post-Cold War World. Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Russett, Bruce 2005. “Bushwhacking the Democratic Peace.” International Studies Perspectives 6(4):395–408.Google Scholar
Russett, Bruce 2010. “Capitalism or Democracy? Not so Fast.” International Interactions 36(2):198–205.Google Scholar
Russett, BruceOneal, John. 2001. Triangulating Peace. Democracy, Interdependence, and International Organizations. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Schmitz, David F. 1999. Thank God They're On Our Side. The United States and Right-Wing Dictatorships, 1921–1965. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Schneider, Gerald, Barbieri, KatherineGleditsch, Nils Petter. 2003. “Does Globalization Contribute to Peace? A Critical Survey of the Literature.” In Globalization and Armed Conflict, edited by Gerald Schneider, Katherine Barbieri, and Nils Petter Gleditsch, 3–29. London: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Schneider, Gerald, Gleditsch, Nils Petter. 2010. “The Capitalist Peace: The Origins and Prospects of a Liberal Idea.” International Interactions 36(2):107–114.Google Scholar
Schultz, Kenneth. 2001. Democracy and Coercive Diplomacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schwartzman, Kathleen C. 1998. “Globalization and Democracy.” Annual Review of Sociology 24:159–181.Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya. 2008. “Violence, Identity and Poverty.” Journal of Peace Research 45(1):5–15.Google Scholar
Spiro, David E. 1994. “The Insignificance of the Liberal Peace.” International Security 19(2):50–86.Google Scholar
Wacquant, Loïc. 2001. “The Penalisation of Poverty and the Rise of Neo-Liberalism.” European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 9:401–412.Google Scholar
Wæver, Ole. 1996. “The Rise and Fall of the Inter-Paradigm Debate.” In International Theory: Positivism & Beyond, edited by Steve Smith, Ken Booth, and Marysia Zalewski, 149–185. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wallerstein, Immanuel. 1983. “The Three Instances of Hegemony in the History of the Capitalist World-Economy.” International Journal of Comparative Sociology 24:100–108.Google Scholar
Wallerstein, Immanuel 1989. The Modern World-System III: The Second Era of Great Expansion of the Capitalist World-Economy 1730–1840s. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Wallerstein, Immanuel 1994. “The Agonies of Liberalism: What Hope Progress?” New Left Review I/204:1–17.Google Scholar
Wallerstein, Immanuel 1996. “The Inter-State Structure of the Modern World-System.” In International Theory: Positivism & Beyond, edited by Steve Smith, Ken Booth, and Marysia Zalewski, 87–107. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Weyland, Kurt. 2004. “Neoliberalism and Democracy in Latin America: A Mixed Record.” Latin American Politics and Society 46(1):135–157.Google Scholar
Weede, Erich. 2003. “Globalization: Creative Destruction and the Prospect of a Capitalist Peace.” In Globalization and Armed Conflict, edited by Gerald Schneider, Katherine Barbieri, and Nils Petter Gleditsch, 311–322. London: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Wolfson, Martin H. 2003. “Neoliberalism and the Social Structure of Accumulation.” Review of Radical Political Economy 35(3):255–262.Google Scholar