Never at War: Why Democracies Will Not Fight One Another Book

In this seminal work, historian Spencer Weart analyzes every recorded instance of conflict among democracies and comes to a remarkable conclusion: democratic republics have never gone to war against one another. Though he is not the first to present this theory of "democratic peace," the depth and breadth of his research sets Never at War apart as a work of singular importance. To present as scientific a study as possible, Weart meticulously defines various forms of government in order to present a working model of democracy. He defines a republic as a community in which political decisions are made by citizens with equal rights, then divides republics into two camps: democracies, in which at least two-thirds of adult males can make political decisions, and oligarchies, in which one-third or fewer males hold political rights. Working within these parameters, he finds that "republics and only republics have tended to form durable, peaceful leagues." Taking his point further, he asks, "When states avoid war so thoroughly, can that be a mere accident, or is there some deeper reason? If a general reason exists then we may already have at hand, in peaceful democratic regions like Western Europe, the blueprint for a solution to the problem of war." Such a solution is both his hope and his conviction. As he illustrates with copious historical examples, governments tend to transfer their internal political structure outward, so that they deal with other nations as if they were operating from a similar set of rules--a kind of diplomatic "do unto others" approach. When republics are dealing with one another, negotiation and compromise are used instead of war. When two different political regimes are in conflict, however, no similar ground rules apply, and war becomes much more likely. To back up such claims, he relies on a wealth of evidence that stretches from ancient Greece through Renaissance Italy and into the mid-1990s, including an appendix that details nearly every meaningful skirmish between "approximately republican regimes" over the past two millennia. Impressive in scope and powerfully convincing, Never at War is an effective tool for waging peace. --Shawn Carkonen Read More