This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Weart, S. R. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Peace among Democratic and Oligarchic Republics

Center for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD

A list was compiled of virtually all significant military confrontations between republics throughout history. By including regimes only marginally republican, some forty cases were found from ancient Greece to the 1990s; about half of these had significant combat. Detailed historical investigation of each case reveals consistent patterns. A striking lack of wars between well-established democracies prevailed not only among modern states but also among earlier regimes commonly described as democracies, for example in medieval Switzerland. A historically more numerous class of republic is the oligarchies, where those in power hold equal rights but deny such rights to other important groups (e.g. South Africa). Remarkably, oligarchies scarcely ever made war on other regimes of their own type. Oligarchies did commonly fight democracies. It also appears that both types of republic, unlike all other regimes, have tended to form durable peaceful leagues among themselves. These reliable and general observations are not consistent with explanations solely in terms of institutional structures, but they can be understood in terms of domestic political culture. Leaders who negotiated with fellow citizens as equals invariably treated foreign leaders in the same non-violent manner, provided that they perceived the foreigners too as political equals.

Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 31, No. 3, 299-316 (1994)
DOI: 10.1177/0022343394031003005


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. W. Moses The Umma of Democracy Security Dialogue, December 1, 2006; 37(4): 489 - 508. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. Caprioli and P. F. Trumbore Identifying `Rogue' States and Testing their Interstate Conflict Behavior European Journal of International Relations, September 1, 2003; 9(3): 377 - 406. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. Sobek Regime Type, Preferences, and War in Renaissance Italy Journal of Conflict Resolution, April 1, 2003; 47(2): 204 - 225. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. CAPRIOLI and P. F. TRUMBORE Ethnic Discrimination and Interstate Violence: Testing the International Impact of Domestic Behavior Journal of Peace Research, January 1, 2003; 40(1): 5 - 23. [Abstract] [PDF]

				E. Robinson Reading and Misreading the Ancient Evidence for Democratic Peace Journal of Peace Research, September 1, 2001; 38(5): 593 - 608. [Abstract] [PDF]

				H. E. Goemans Fighting for Survival: The Fate of Leaders and the Duration of War Journal of Conflict Resolution, October 1, 2000; 44(5): 555 - 579. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Werner The Effects of Political Similarity on the Onset of Militarized Disputes, 1816-1985 Political Research Quarterly, June 1, 2000; 53(2): 343 - 374. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. Caprioli Gendered Conflict Journal of Peace Research, January 1, 2000; 37(1): 51 - 68. [Abstract] [PDF]

				E. A. Henderson Neoidealism and the Democratic Peace Journal of Peace Research, March 1, 1999; 36(2): 203 - 231. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. Peceny A Constructivist Interpretation of the Liberal Peace: The Ambiguous Case of the Spanish-American War Journal of Peace Research, November 1, 1997; 34(4): 415 - 430. [Abstract]

				T. Bachteler Explaining the Democratic Peace: The Evidence from Ancient Greece Reviewed Journal of Peace Research, August 1, 1997; 34(3): 315 - 323. [Abstract]

				N. P. Gleditsch and H. Hegre Peace and Democracy: Three Levels of Analysis Journal of Conflict Resolution, April 1, 1997; 41(2): 283 - 310. [Abstract]

				M. Mousseau Democracy and Militarized Interstate Collaboration Journal of Peace Research, February 1, 1997; 34(1): 73 - 87. [Abstract]

				C. W. KEGLEY JR and M. G. HERMANN How Democracies Use Intervention: A Neglected Dimension in Studies of the Democratic Peace Journal of Peace Research, August 1, 1996; 33(3): 309 - 322. [Abstract]

				W.-D. Eberwein The Future of International Warfare: Toward a Global Security Community? International Political Science Review/ Revue internationale de science pol, January 1, 1995; 16(4): 341 - 360. [Abstract] [PDF]