Military intervention and the democratic peace

Charles W. Kegley, Margaret G. Hermann

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

31 Scopus citations

Abstract

The finding generated by numerous empirical investigations that democracies do not wage war against one another has inspired hope that the democratic “pacific union” envisioned by Immanuel Kant and Woodrow Wilson might be created in the late 1990s as democracy spreads worldwide. This paper examines democracies' use of overt military intervention, exploring if the democratic peace applies to' small-scale as well as large-scale war. The research uncovers IS instances in which free democratic states have moved their regular troops into the territory of other free states and 32 instances of free states intervening into partly free states between 1974 and 1988. Focusing on these anomalous cases, the paper assesses the extent to which this interventionist activity comprises a potential ”danger zone in the democratic peace”, and a concludes with a discussion of the role that interventionism is likely to play in a democratic twentieth-century peace.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1-21
Number of pages21
JournalInternational Interactions
Volume21
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1995
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Political Science and International Relations

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