In War’s Wake
International Conflict and the Fate of Liberal Democracy

This landmark interdisciplinary volume brings together distinguished historians, sociologists, and political scientists to examine the impact of war on democracy.

Elizabeth Kier (Edited by), Ronald R. Krebs (Edited by)

9780521157704, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 June 2010

326 pages, 3 b/w illus. 15 tables
23.5 x 15.5 x 2 cm, 0.46 kg

“This important book begins and ends with a paradox: while democracies often compromise their principles during war, war’s effects on democratic institutions are often positive. Following in the footsteps of Charles Tilly, Kier and Krebs and their contributors explore different dimensions of the war/democracy paradox, applying it to cases as diverse as World Wars I and II, the Yom Kippur War, and the War on Terror. This book will become a standard accompaniment to Tilly’s Coercion, Capital and European States and to Lasswell’s and Huntington’s work on the military and politics.”
– Sidney Tarrow, Cornell University

War has diverse and seemingly contradictory effects on liberal democratic institutions and processes. It has led democracies to abandon their principles, expanding executive authority and restricting civil liberties, but it has also prompted the development of representative parliamentary institutions. It has undercut socioeconomic reform, but it has also laid the basis for the modern welfare state. This landmark volume brings together distinguished political scientists, historians, and sociologists to explore the impact of war on liberal democracy - a subject far less studied than the causes of war but hardly less important. Three questions drive the analysis: How does war shape the transition to and durability of democracy? How does war influence democratic contestation? How does war transform democratic participation? Employing a wide range of methods, this volume assesses what follows in the wake of war.

1. Introduction: war and democracy in comparative perspective Elizabeth Kier and Ronald Krebs
Part I. War and Democratic Transitions: New and Durable Democracies?: 2. Does war influence democratization? Edward Mansfield and Jack Snyder
3. Dodging a bullet: democracy's gains in modern war Paul Starr
4. Armed conflict and the durability of electoral democracy Nancy Bermeo
Part II. War and Democratic Publics: Reshaping Political Participation?: 5. The effects of war on civil society: cross-national evidence from World War II Rieko Kage
6. Veterans, human rights, and the tranformation of European democracy Jay Winter
7. War and reform: gaining labor's compliance on the homefront Elizabeth Kier
8. Spinning Mars: democracy in Britain and the United States and the economic lessons of war Mark Wilson
Part III. War and Democratic States: Government by the People or over the People?: 9. International conflict and the constitutional balance: executive authority after war Ronald R. Krebs
10. Claims and capacity: war, national policing institutions, and democracy Daniel Kryder
11. War, recruitment systems, and democracy Deborah Avant
Concluding reflections: 12. What wars do Miguel Angel Centeno.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS], Political structures: democracy [JPHV], Political science & theory [JPA]