The Militant Face of Democracy
Liberal Forces for Good

Shifts the often naïve focus of democratic peace theory towards liberal-democratic militancy and highlights the role of national identities.

Anna Geis (Edited by), Harald Müller (Edited by), Niklas Schörnig (Edited by)

9781107037403, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 October 2013

397 pages, 11 b/w illus. 47 tables
23.5 x 15.6 x 2.8 cm, 0.71 kg

'Liberal democracies may not fight one another but they go to war more frequently than other regime types. Contributors to this volume find that they do so more for humanitarian reasons than to bring about regime change or uphold regional and international order. They find a deep ambivalence about conflict and war in democracies. Exemplary case studies of multiple democracies inform these conclusions. Substantively and theoretically, this is the most impressive study to date of a critically important subject.' Richard Ned Lebow, King's College London

Democratic peace theory - the argument that democracies very rarely go to war with each other - has come under attack recently for being too naïve and for neglecting the vast amount of wars fought by democracies, especially since the end of the Cold War. This volume offers a fresh perspective by arguing that the same norms that are responsible for the democratic peace can be argued to be responsible for democratic war-proneness. The authors show that democratic norms, which are usually understood to cause peaceful behaviour, are heavily contested when dealing with a non-democratic other. The book thus integrates democratic peace and democratic war into one consistent theoretical perspective, emphasising the impact of national identity. The book concludes by arguing that all democracies have a 'weak spot' where they would be willing to engage militarily.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Investigating 'democratic wars' as the flipside of 'democratic peace' Anna Geis and Harald Müller
2. The empirical study of 'democratic wars': methodology and methods Niklas Schörnig, Harald Müller and Anna Geis
Part II. Opting In, Opting Out: Liberal Democracies and War: 3. The United States: the American way of leading the world into democratic wars Stephanie Sohnius
4. 'The right thing to do'? British interventionism after the Cold War Marco Fey
5. 'O ally, stand by me': Australia's ongoing balancing act between geography and history Niklas Schörnig
6. Canada: standing on guard for international law and human security? Una Becker-Jakob
7. French ambiguities: of civilising, diplomatic and military missions Johanna Eckert
8. Burdens of the past, shadows of the future: the use of military force as a challenge for the German 'civilian power' Anna Geis
9. Moving beyond neutrality: Sweden's changing attitude towards the military use of force Carmen Wunderlich
Part III. Conclusion: 10. Liberal democracies as militant 'forces for good': a comparative perspective Anna Geis, Harald Müller and Niklas Schörnig
11. The appropriateness of the liberal use of force: 'democratic wars' under US hegemony Anna Geis and Harald Müller
Appendix: methodology.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS], Political structures: democracy [JPHV]