Realism, Liberalism and the Democratic Peace

Abstract

Much has been written both against, and in favour of, the evidence for the democratic peace theory. Advocates point to the relatively strong empirical evidence provided by two centuries virtually free of war between liberal-democratic states, while critics attempt to redefine the theory in order to discredit it, and point to the handful of exceptions as proof against it. The purpose of this paper is to expose the logical errors of which the theory's critics are guilty. Furthermore, it will use the Five-Day War between Georgia and the Russian Federation as a case study to prove that even apparent exceptions can still prove the rule.