Conservative Experts Critical Of Democrative Peace Theory

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http://atlanticreview.org/archives/281-Conservative-experts-critical-of-Democratic-Peace-Theory.html


In its February 27 issue, The American Conservative writes:

When it comes to DPT , the Middle East has become a laboratory with Iraq serving as a test tube for the experiment. And it’s a test that seems to be failing. <…> In a way, neoconservative foreign policy is bursting with explosive self-contradiction. It urges Washington to use its military power to establish a hegemonic position in the Middle East, while at the same time it calls for holding free elections that empower forces opposed to the American hegemon and its allies. In Turkey, South Korea, Brazil, Chile, and Bolivia, free voting has resulted in the election of political parties that are less than enthusiastic about American’s goals. a process that challenges the current authoritarian regimes and permits free elections gives rise to illiberal regimes and makes the region safe not for liberal democracy but for nationalism and other combative forms of identity.

The author also quotes professors Edward D. Mansfield and Jack Snyder, who in their recent book Electing to Fight: Why Emerging Democracies Go to War (Amazon.de, Amazon.com), as well as in a recent article for The National Interest, analyze many historic examples to argue that “early stages of transitions to electoral politics have often been rife with violence”, and that democratic transition can indeed become a potent cause of war:


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http://atlanticreview.org/archives/281-Conservative-experts-critical-of-Democratic-Peace-Theory.html


I found this in the German Magazine "Der Spiegel"