This document provides a summary of a research paper that aims to test the congruence and practical application of the Democratic Peace Theory given current policies for promoting democracy. The researcher hypothesizes that the Democratic Peace Theory has flaws that should be addressed if applying it to non-Western regions. Specifically, it has an unclear causal relationship between democracy and peace, and issues implementing democracy in non-Western areas can yield unstable, war-stricken nations rather than peace. The researcher will use qualitative case study methods to analyze flaws in the theory and how well democracy promotion has worked in different contexts.
American Foreign Policy under Donald TrumpNevila Mullaj
The dissertation ascertains that United States of America represent an interesting case where national identity is interconnected with foreign policy. The theoretical conceptualization is developed on basis of post-structuralism. The methodology is focused on discourse analysis, analysis of speeches, twitter and official data reports constitute primary and secondary data sources. The thesis shows that identity and foreign policy are interconnected. The role of national identity is extremely powerful in highlighting a hegemonic position. The American Psyche is essentially present in every American presidency, whereas the power of the discourse, the “otherness” and the key representation of danger and threat revived the national security and defense strategies. Concluding, the language and significance used in official speeches of Donald Trump, document the American hegemony to be unquestionable. Lastly, the projection of the national identity in case of the USA remains very strong and coherently reflected in the American foreign policy during Donald Trump.
American Foreign Policy under Donald TrumpNevila Mullaj
The dissertation ascertains that United States of America represent an interesting case where national identity is interconnected with foreign policy. The theoretical conceptualization is developed on basis of post-structuralism. The methodology is focused on discourse analysis, analysis of speeches, twitter and official data reports constitute primary and secondary data sources. The thesis shows that identity and foreign policy are interconnected. The role of national identity is extremely powerful in highlighting a hegemonic position. The American Psyche is essentially present in every American presidency, whereas the power of the discourse, the “otherness” and the key representation of danger and threat revived the national security and defense strategies. Concluding, the language and significance used in official speeches of Donald Trump, document the American hegemony to be unquestionable. Lastly, the projection of the national identity in case of the USA remains very strong and coherently reflected in the American foreign policy during Donald Trump.
This is a war that we must and shall win with better ideas and proven performance. The odds appear to be stacked against us, but that is just an illusion by the popular media, which now functions openly as the Progressive propaganda machine. Major television networks that used to pride themselves in getting the story behind the news and educating the American viewer about what their government was really doing now serve as perpetual spin doctors for the administration.
This ppt describes my dissertation project on the rhetorical dimension of soft power. The presentation includes a primer on soft power; lists the elements of a rhetorical critique; and presents my research objectives, questions, and anticipated outcomes for theory and practice.
How the news media have failed to interrogate the concept of failed state, th...Premier Publishers
This study examines the concept of “Failed State” presently in vogue, and how this term has been wrongly used in the news media, the case of Pakistan (since 2005).Edward Newman categorized three types of opinion regarding the concept of failed state among scholars, first one is in the favour and call it a useful, second view considers its a weak and not systematically reliable and last one is highly against this term and calls it an ethnocentric and hegemonic political agenda. This study analyses the case of Pakistan under this context and finding of the study endorses the argument of those scholars, who see the term failed state as an ethnocentric and hegemonic political agenda. This study critically analyses the discourses of news reports and think tanks indexes that labelled Pakistan a failed state. This paper argues that this term has been overlooked and left to the savants for debate. The labelling of failed state by the news media produces drastic repercussions for the labelled nations, hence needs thorough investigation.
This is a war that we must and shall win with better ideas and proven performance. The odds appear to be stacked against us, but that is just an illusion by the popular media, which now functions openly as the Progressive propaganda machine. Major television networks that used to pride themselves in getting the story behind the news and educating the American viewer about what their government was really doing now serve as perpetual spin doctors for the administration.
This ppt describes my dissertation project on the rhetorical dimension of soft power. The presentation includes a primer on soft power; lists the elements of a rhetorical critique; and presents my research objectives, questions, and anticipated outcomes for theory and practice.
How the news media have failed to interrogate the concept of failed state, th...Premier Publishers
This study examines the concept of “Failed State” presently in vogue, and how this term has been wrongly used in the news media, the case of Pakistan (since 2005).Edward Newman categorized three types of opinion regarding the concept of failed state among scholars, first one is in the favour and call it a useful, second view considers its a weak and not systematically reliable and last one is highly against this term and calls it an ethnocentric and hegemonic political agenda. This study analyses the case of Pakistan under this context and finding of the study endorses the argument of those scholars, who see the term failed state as an ethnocentric and hegemonic political agenda. This study critically analyses the discourses of news reports and think tanks indexes that labelled Pakistan a failed state. This paper argues that this term has been overlooked and left to the savants for debate. The labelling of failed state by the news media produces drastic repercussions for the labelled nations, hence needs thorough investigation.
Jimese Harkley 2015 CUES Next Top Credit Union Exec PresentationCUES Emerge
Jimese Harkley is a 35-year-old Philanthropy and Community Relations Manager of America's First Federal Credit Union ($1.3B) in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.
This is her Finalist presentation that she gave in Scottsdale, Arizona as part of the 2015 CUES Next Top Credit Union Exec competition.
Danielle Buscher 2015 CUES Next Top Credit Union Exec PresentationCUES Emerge
Danielle Buscher is a 30-year-old Learning and Development Manager of West Community Credit Union ($160M) in O'Fallon, Missouri, United States.
This is her Finalist presentation that she gave in Scottsdale, Arizona as part of the 2015 CUES Next Top Credit Union Exec competition.
My Career Goals Essay Example Free Essay Example. Essay About Career Plans And Goals. 011 Essay On Achieving Goal Impressive Personal Goals For Resume Yours .... 012 Essay Example My Goals Personal ~ Thatsnotus. Career goals essay. 004 Essay Example Goal Essays Setting Delp Ip Resear On Worksheet Time .... 024 Personal Goals Essay Goal Essays Career And Educational Examples .... Short Essay Samples About My Goals. Career goals Essay | Essay on Career goals for Students and Children in .... 004 Essay Example Professional Goals Career Goal Personal Statement .... College Essay Career Goals - Educational and Career Goals Essay Examples. 010 Winning Scholarship Essay Examples Example Educational And Career .... Essay on Career Goals [Edit & Download] ,Pdf. Goals Essay. 002 Essay Example Career Goals Examples Goal Sample Personification L ....
False Narrative Dangers To Black America And Why The U.S. Has Reached A New A...DC Diew
A Chat With Ai
Propagandists are placing blame for Ukraine's war failures on the struggle of Black America to survive a denied genocide (for lack of a better term). Why is this a catastrophic false narrative and what are the short, mid, and long-term dangers of such abuse of authority at the micro and macro levels nationally as well as globally?
"The narrative you described is a catastrophic false narrative for several reasons. Firstly, it seeks to link two unrelated issues—the war in Ukraine and the struggles of Black America—in an attempt to create a false cause-and-effect relationship. Such a connection is baseless and lacks any factual basis."
Chapter 1 Global Issues Challenges of GlobalizationA GROWING .docxtiffanyd4
Chapter 1 Global Issues: Challenges of Globalization
A GROWING WORLDWIDE CONNECTEDNESS IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION HAS GIVEN CITIZENS MORE OF A VOICE TO EXPRESS THEIR DISSATISFACTION. In Brazil, Protestors calling for a wide range of reforms marched toward the soccer stadium where a match would be played between Brazil and Uruguay.
Learning Objectives
1. 1.1Identify important terms in international relations
2. 1.2Report the need to adopt an interdisciplinary approach in understanding the impact of new world events
3. 1.3Examine the formation of the modern states with respect to the thirty years’ war in 1618
4. 1.4Recall the challenges to the four types of sovereignty
5. 1.5Report that the European Union was created by redefining the sovereignty of its nations for lasting peace and security
6. 1.6Recall the influence exerted by the Catholic church, transnational companies, and other NGOs in dictating world events
7. 1.7Examine how globalization has brought about greater interdependence between states
8. 1.8Record the major causes of globalization
9. 1.9Review the most important forms of globalization
10. 1.10Recount the five waves of globalization
11. 1.11Recognize reasons as to why France and the US resist globalization
12. 1.12Examine the three dominant views of the extent to which globalization exists
Revolutions in technology, finance, transportation, and communications and different ways of thinking that characterize interdependence and globalization have eroded the power and significance of nation-states and profoundly altered international relations. Countries share power with nonstate actors that have proliferated as states have failed to deal effectively with major global problems.
Many governments have subcontracted several traditional responsibilities to private companies and have created public-private partnerships in some areas. This is exemplified by the hundreds of special economic zones in China, Dubai, and elsewhere. Contracting out traditional functions of government, combined with the centralization of massive amounts of data, facilitated Edward Snowden’s ability to leak what seems to be an almost unlimited amount of information on America’s spying activities.
The connections between states and citizens, a cornerstone of international relations, have been weakened partly by global communications and migration. Social media enable people around the world to challenge governments and to participate in global governance. The prevalence of mass protests globally demonstrates growing frustration with governments’ inability to meet the demands of the people, especially the global middle class.
The growth of multiple national identities, citizenships, and passports challenges traditional international relations. States that played dominant roles in international affairs must now deal with their declining power as global power is more diffused with the rise of China, India, Brazil, and other emerging market countries. States are i.
Oligarchy rules democracy: Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Int...Sadanand Patwardhan
Each of four theoretical traditions in the study of American politics – which can be characterized as theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy, Economic Elite Domination, and two types of interest group pluralism, Majoritarian Pluralism and Biased Pluralism – offers different predictions about which sets of actors have how much influence over public policy: average citizens; economic elites; and organized interest groups, mass-based or business-oriented. A great deal of empirical research speaks to the policy influence of one or another set of actors, but until recently it has not been possible to test these contrasting theoretical predictions against each other within a single statistical model. This paper reports on an effort to do so, using a unique data set that includes measures of the key variables for 1,779 policy issues. Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism. The study is by Martin Gilens, Princeton University and Benjamin I. Page, Northwestern University.
Using individual data on voting and political parties manifestos in European coun- tries, we empirically characterize the drivers of voting for populist parties (the demand side) as well as the presence of populist parties (the supply side). We show that the economic insecurity drivers of the demand of populism are significant, especially when considering the key interactions with turnout incentives, neglected in previous studies. Once turnout effects are taken into account, economic insecurity drives consensus to populist policies directly and through indirect negative effects on trust and attitudes towards immigrants. On the supply side, populist parties are more likely to emerge when countries are faced with a systemic crisis of economic security. The orientation choice of populist parties, i.e., whether they arise on left or right of the political spec- trum, is determined by the availability of political space. The typical mainstream parties response is to reduce the distance of their platform from that of successful populist entrants, amplifying the aggregate supply of populist policies.
Causal Analysis on TerrorismThe conventional definition of terro.docxcravennichole326
Causal Analysis on Terrorism
The conventional definition of terrorism portrays it as the use of violence in order to pursue political interests (Sandler, 2013). The awareness of terrorism increased along with the realization that human beings have the tendency of using violence to influence politics in order to suit their psychological, emotional, and physical needs. Likewise, terrorism has increased along with the understanding that governments can be forced to agree to the demands of specific groups. Arguably, the September 9/11 attack on the United States caught the attention of many people (Sandler, 2013). The successful attack on the most powerful nation revealed the extent of people’s vulnerability.
Consequently, many studies which attempted to explain the causes of terrorism in the contemporary society emerged. In the past, scholars placed much emphasis on low-level education, few economic opportunities, and poverty as the primary facilitators of terrorism. However, terrorism has not reduced despite the implementation of interventions which focused on redressing such factors (Sandler, 2013). It means that there is still a gap in the information regarding the cause of terrorism regardless of the studies. Therefore, this paper seeks to examine terrorism as a response to political conditions while proving that low-level education, poverty, and religious and cultural differences are not the primary causes of the problem.Discussion
A study conducted by Enders and Hoover (2012) to determine the relationship between poverty and terrorism forms a part of the basis underpinning this discussion. The study methodology involved the analysis of information entailing the extent of domestic and international terrorism. It also involved the estimation of models which could predict a nonlinear relationship between poverty and terrorism (Enders & Hoover, 2012). The study determined that poverty can cause terrorism, but not to the extent to which it has been exaggerated by the media and some scholars. In fact, poverty can only significantly influence domestic terrorism. The study also established that the difference in population characteristics and political freedom can facilitate terrorism relatively more compared to poverty and lack of economic opportunities (Enders & Hoover, 2012). Comment by Author: Transition between these sentences to show you are adding on a fact that helps to support the points you are making about false causes.
In a different discussion, Cinar in conjunction with Epoka University (2010) reviewed several literature sources and determined that it is misleading to perceive terrorism as a response to inadequate education or lack of thereof. Likewise, the difference in ideological roots, religious, and cultural diversity are not the predominant causes of terrorism. In the past, terrorists used religion to find acceptable justification for their acts. Otherwise, religion cannot influence people to form a particular political opinion ...
Review Neoclassical Realism and Theories of Foreign Poli.docxAASTHA76
Review: Neoclassical Realism and Theories of Foreign Policy
Reviewed Work(s): The Perils of Anarchy: Contemporary Realism and International
Security by Michael E. Brown; Useful Adversaries: Grand Strategy, Domestic Mobilization,
and Sino-American Conflict, 1947-1958 by Thomas J. Christensen; Deadly Imbalances:
Tripolarity and Hitler's Strategy of World Conquest by Randall L. Schweller; The Elusive
Balance: Power and Perceptions during the Cold War by William Curti Wohlforth; From
Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of America's World Role by Fareed Zakaria
Review by: Gideon Rose
Source: World Politics, Vol. 51, No. 1 (Oct., 1998), pp. 144-172
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25054068
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Review Article
NEOCLASSICAL REALISM AND
THEORIES OF FOREIGN POLICY
By GIDEON ROSE*
Michael E. Brown et al., eds. The Perils of Anarchy: Contemporary Realism and
International Security. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995, 519 pp.
Thomas J. Christensen. Useful Adversaries: Grand Strategy, Domestic Mobiliza
tion, and Sino-American Conflict, 1947-1958. Princeton: Princeton Univer
sity Press, 1996, 319 pp.
Randall L. Schweller. Deadly Imbalances: Tripolarity and Hitlers Strategy of
World Conquest. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998,267 pp.
William Curti Wohlforth. The Elusive Balance: Power and Perceptions during
the Cold War. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1993, 317 pp.
Fareed Zakaria. From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of Americas World
Role. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998,199 pp.
FOR two decades international relations theory has been dominated by the debate between neorealists and their various critics.1 Much
of the skirmishing has occurred over questions about the nature of the
international system and its effect on patterns of international out
comes such as war and peace. Thus scholars have disputed whether a
multipolar system generates more conflict than a bipolar one, or
* For support, criticisms, and suggestions regarding earlier versions of this essay I am grateful to
Richard Berts, Michael Desch, Michael Doyle, Aaron Friedberg, Philip Gordon, Ethan Kapstein, Jeff
Legro, Sean Lynn-Jones, Andrew Moravcsik, Kenne.
SGS305 Final Research Paper Democracy Research Methods Professor Charles Ripley
1. Are the Current Policies for Methods and Levels of Democracy Promotion
Appropriate Given the Legitimacy and Practical Application of the
Democratic Peace Theory?
By: Hannah Al-Ghareeb
Research Question
The research objective is to test the congruence of the Democratic Peace Theory. As to whether
it deserves its high credit, popularity, and warrant in being the designated governmental system
to be spread ideally, among other nation states. The inspiration for this investigation was incited
by the current state of turmoil within international politics, which has reached radical extremes
as a result of increased tensions for power. Modern history is drowned with ideological warfare
currently led by the reincarnated East vs. West struggle. Current nationalistic threats to the U.S.
have sprouted from Pan-Arabinism, and have become the new opponents upon the United States
and Western Europe’s chess board. Power tensions have increased through movements of the
21st century, as waves of political and cultural domination have spurred through rises in
nationalism that has in turn exasperated the fearful competition of diversity and variation; rather
than the potential contributions of such.
This project carries grave importance because current international foreign policies operate out
of notions of democratic ideals. About 90% of the western hemisphere (U.S and western
Europe) is democratic and highly influenced by the U.S. Since these ideals are instilled in the
foundation of diplomatic culture, they are used to evaluate the governance of nations as well as
their behavior with outsiders. It seems intuitively ethical to spread a system famous for being the
most equitable yet seen throughout history, as the foundational values and desires are assumed to
be universal of all global citizens. However, it is difficult to evaluate what rights are being
2. granted or given, because they are defined and valued differently according to culture and
context. Furthermore, sociological practices that provide more advantages than disadvantages
may work in one region while not in others. This consequence of diversity complicates
endeavurs of the spread of an ideology. Democracy is the current preference of the western
world and its preference in associating with governments who share this fashion. The main
reason for this is because the popular notion that the Democratic Peace Theory creates and
maintains peace between democracies period. However, this theory does not seem to be as full
proof as widely believed. In fact, the theory carries holes that illude whether there is a direct
causal relationship between the two variables of democracy and peace. These overlooked flaws
could have and may have already spurred catastrophic cycles of violent conflict as a side effect
of the overzealous promotion of this system. In these current harsh times conflict is
exponentially increasing with building angst towards the United States assumed to arise from a
clash of civilizations, religions, or ideologies. It is difficult to tell what is real with the
promotion of false truth claims, being today’s fad. What if the angst is occurring in response to
the Middle East’s history and ever growing intolerance to occupying imperialist
neoconservatives? The same people who have interests in their resources and security potential,
whilst supporting Israel (a common confrontational neighbor to many Arab countries) as it
continues international violations of human rights? These are further questions which need in
depth analysis; however the point is is what if the Democratic Peace Theory is a coincidental
accident? If there are other causal mechanisms which transform conflict into peace building
underneath this overarching theory, then why should the promotion of Democracy be as invested
in as it is today? For then it would only serve to reward western nations with dealing with non-
democratic nations more easily. If foreign policy and ethical evaluation of international relations
3. is layered upon layers of theories and inherent truths, what good is any of it if the foundation is
not valid?
Furthermore, failures to collectively tackle humanitarian threats such as global climate change
and the disintegration of finite resources, has exasperated the sense of entitlement to leaders of
nation states. As a result, the advantageous end of resource disparity is prioritizing competition
and using this advantage to weaponize technology as well as weaponize cultural diversity. This
is exhibited through stereotypes used against cultures that are defined by wrongful or lack of
education, perpetuated by the media of the masses, and legitimized more than ever to rationalize
the dehumanization of marginalized parties. Restructuring of theories, policies, cultural values,
and most importantly infrastructure, must be kept current to accommodate to today’s evolved
social habitat. It is for these reasons that this investigation required in depth analysis of this
theory and case studies to which its potential flaws are able to surface.
Whether people exhibit internal or external differences, diversity to western and eastern
governments incites threat to one another’s stability. Unconventional lifestyles means individuals
are not following the popular hegemonic ideals which unify social thought, values, and choices;
which are usually shared by a national identity. Small numbers of individuals critically
thinking, choosing, and acting within their own definitions of reality, eventually becomes its own
hegemonic pattern. Inevitably this number will grow, leaving the maintenance of local and
supranational order unmanageable; and perhaps allowing civil anarchy to be manifested,
ironically the greatest common fear of all nations.
4. For this reason, powerful governments strive to achieve a prestigious international status;
through victorious wars, possessing an admirable economy, and even exhibiting an envied
culture, so that its ethnocentrism is understood and cultural hegemony is spread as consent.
Consensual Hegemony is always favored. Governments would use less expensive resources in
propelling coercive forces to gain compliance; where force usually entails resistance and
conflict. When people willingly grant consent to accept or deny ideas, they actively surrender
certain rights to distrust, confront or question authorities.
Consequently, the most efficient means to gain consent is through trust. Inherently, humans trust
others based on a basic idea that someone who has more in common with them, whether it be
ethnicity, country of origin, culture, physical characteristics, or other aspects, signifies similar
mentality, moral values, and therefore similar goals. This is called social logic. For example, an
Italian man who requests a mechanic somewhere new will prefer an Italian mechanic for he will
trust that they are more likely than others to share similar cultural backgrounds, aspects that they
identify with, and therefore mutual definitions and therefore clearly defined expectations.
As threats to national security increase, so does the perpetuated fear of foreigners (and their
misunderstood foreign habits). The monopolized umbrella of the mass media employ spin
doctors with the tasks of exaggerating cherry picked stories capable of legitimizing stereotypes
and fear tactics. This is an example of Gramcian methods. Gramcian methods explains how
these methods demonstrate that consent can be achieved by the social construction of realities
painted by the wealthy power holders whom have the means to do so. When the availability of
5. information is controlled by elites ensuring complying individuals, these individuals begin to
rationalize with harmful impractical decisions of their leaders. From this current apparatus of
internal processes, external ones are affected and transcended across cultures and inserted into
the culture within international diplomacy and within supranational bodies like the UN. It is for
these reasons that advocating the spread of the world’s greatest power’s system of governance
would create endless benefits. Therefore, the leaders of the United States believe that by
increasing its cultural hegemony of social logic and extended social contracts, its security issues
would dissipate through consent. However, when armed military intervention enters a state
without properly processing justification among the UN, wishful ambitions to insert democratic
rational everywhere transcends under occupation into forceful imposition. This is seen in the
case of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Methodology
Mainstream Qualitative Case Methods are the main methodology used for this study. The reason
for this is because Quantitative methods look for correlations between two variables, not
necessarily causal analysis. It does search for a conditional probability where one may say if the
independent variable exists then there is such high probability that the dependent will arise or co-
exist that it can be predicted. Although this may suggest a cause and effect relationship,
positivism shows that even within a natural science like chemistry, it is difficult to isolate all
other interacting variables away from the control and experimental ones. As in it is tricky to find
the direct root causal variable of a phenomena, especially when numerical analysis of machine
readable social data rarely shows deep rooted triggers of phenomena beneath the surface, which
6. may change. Inherently, this is because of its large sample population and extreme nomothetic
applicability to other areas. As when using parsimonious conclusions to apply fungibility across
populations, the explanations sometimes encompass too much reductionalism and other ways of
taking certain factors for granteed. For example when coding for political terror or democracy,
these definitions are so subjective that quantification is only able to encompass a small portion of
reality; and who’s reality? In relation to this research question in the democratic peace theory,
quantification has attempted to analyze and even test its congruence, however it leaves out cases
where the CIA influenced the outcome; which leaves out a lot.
Mainstream qualitative methods attempt to solve this problem of equifinality by ferreting out the
complex chains of variables, offering rich insight and closer examinations into smaller sample
populations. Within this methodology, are methods to conduct social research carrying the
attached ontological position that there exists a reality which lies in between positivism and
interpretivism. There are certain realities which can be observed in natural light, or by being on
the ground witnessing and absorbing direct, immediate information. Biases exist however can be
so minimized by systematically collecting data in a variety of sampling methods to ensure cross-
examination. They are also decreased to a high degree via in depth case studies and
ethnomethodology, which both customize questions and analysis to properly interpret cultural or
contextual factors that may change the implications of the data. This ontological position
recognizes that the reality which can be discovered lies deeper under layers of societies.
Phenomena in sociology do not arise or dicipate the same as the scientific world, and therefore
procedures such as comparative historical analysis, path dependency, and phemenology are
necessary to discover or disarm real truths. At the same time, these qualitative methods of data
extraction can be generalizable and fungible to other phenomena. These characteristics make
7. this method instrumentally unique and important. If international and domestic decisions are
being made based off of social research findings, then it is pertinent that the information
collected is as close to reality as possible. For individuals make short and long term decisions
which are based and/or influenced by the actions, patterns, and outcomes of the choices of
others’. To imagine decisions based off of poor data lacking validity and statistical notions
which do not represent a population, carries detrimental consequences. Now imagine this on a
larger level; sub-group, nation state, region, globe, and the implications can be catastrophic while
the effects lasting.
It is for these reasons that the primary mode of research for this question utilized the extended
case method. This method is a type of qualitative research utilizing analytical methods like case
studies, ethnography, and field research to evaluate and suggest modification to pre-existing
social theories via congruence testing. It serves to illuminate flaws within existing social
paradigms, thus refining and accommodating them to the changing realms of social interactions
as well as advances in research. In reference to this method, Michael Burawoy states that
theories and case methods exhibit a unique relationship. In extended case methods, one must be
well versed in a particular theory in order to analytically determine holes in the theory’s logic
which is not complementary to observations seen among varied cases. It contrasts with inductive
grounded theory where the aim is to investigate without allowing pre-existing presumptions and
truth claims into a researcher’s conscious mind; reducing bias in data collection. Burawoy has
outlined the extended case method in such a way where it retains its positivist ground for
statistical analysis and yet is reflexive; relationships between the cause (independent variable)
and effect (dependent variable) are circular. Both variables effect one another and makes it
8. difficult to distinguish the real causal factor. For this reason it may seem like a mixture of
Positivism and Interpretism, however as Burawoy explains the interpretivist ontology is taken
into consideration only to ensure validity by using its methods. In a sense by encorporating such
a reflexive science, he shows a need to accommodate for the marginalized areas in positivism.
Positivism remains the core foundation for its structured way of collecting data and the benefits
from such. However, allowing what he calls space into the investigation scope, one can
creatively use deductive and inductive research to achieve the whole point of qualitative
methods; and its necessary distinction from quantitative analysis.
It is for these reasons why these methods carried the ontological positions and methodologies to
fit the parameters in satisfying validity and reliability, in testing the democratic peace theory and
its application.
Why Promote Democracy?
Modern times have been flooded with ideological warfare; even prior to the Cold War, in which
the winners must engage in longitudinal balancing acts between hard and soft power. Powerful
elites must compete amongst threatening internal powers as well as external ones. There lies
tensions between realist elicitations that states whom behave within the rational actor model are
validated in seeking to hoard securable resources and to do so in a ways which do not exempt
their status upon the international arena. One strategy in managing this diplomatic tactic is by
establishing this cultural hegemony through consent of citizens as well as diplomats. By the
United States holding dominant power and political influence since World War Two; especially
9. among the western hemisphere, their democratic system of politics has become not only a
political hegemony, but a cultural one as well.
The emergence and maintenance of Democracies have lasted centuries for structural and
ideological reasons. It has also been sought after by many areas and populations of the globe,
who seek its promises of equality, power to change one’s own government, and lessen conflict.
It is for this reason that since the Cold War, many countries have transformed autocracies into
democracies; improving relationships and creating absence of wars with other democracies. To
add to this, since 9/11 the U.S. has taken up democracy promoting projects in the Middle East to
instill threatening failing states with more stable governments, that are in turn more suitable for
U.S. interests.
The U.S.’s campaign of the necessary spread of Democracy surfaced for many reasons, idealistic
as well as instrumental. Therefore as for a definition of democracy, “a minimalist sense of
democracy is limited to holding multiparty elections in which the losing party voluntarily
transfers power”(pg 488). More defined versions include “…a one vote, one-person equality”
(pg 488) in which candidates must offer transparency into their ideological positions and goals.
In contract to this, an autocracy is a form of government which delegates dominant political
power to one person; as their decisions are not subjected to external or internal scrutiny.
President George W. Bush’s reign began with the focus on nation-building before it transformed
post 9/11 into an expansion of foreign policy and national security. Attempting to achieve these
ideal outcomes via democracy not only has it not taken hold within the two countries chosen by
Bush, however on the contrary may have incited more harm than national peace-building. The
10. popularity of such crusades have gained more public support than it has shown actual success,
surveys have shown that the majority of countries’ public opinion supports democracy.
Therefore democracy has become not only a political hegemonic system, but a cultural one as
well. Therefore it holds a position within U.S. interests to promote the spread of democracy and
“…any U.S. involvement in sustaining autocracy is immoral”(494); although it continues to
presently for security purposes. The argument behind pro democracy holds many inherent and
applicable truths. The widespread acceptance shows that it may not just be a civilization’s social
preferences, but that it seems to suffice universal needs.
The Democratic Peace Hypothesis, “…posits that democracies are more peaceful at least in their
relations to other democracies-than are other political systems, because it is harder to mobilize a
society to fight when citizens have a direct say over government policy” (1). There are attributes
within this type of regime which attract individuals, states, and supranational factions such as the
UN which also prefer it. As are there reasons for the United States’ current upheaval in
promoting the spread of such a system portrayed in power distribution. However, historical and
recent attempts to spread democracy have been met with resistant obstacles in non-western
regions of the world.
Hypothesis
I hypothesize that the Democratic Peace Theory is flawed in ways that should be modernized to
today’s current political climate, if its intended use aims to be applicable to non-western regions.
11. The foundational reservations it carries eliciting individual rights from and in relation to one’s
government is universally desired by most people and holds ethical rational. However, it carries
issues in it unclear cause and effect relationship, as well as to what specific premises play a
functional role in the process of peace. Furthermore, issues in implementing democracy
throughout non-western regions carry unique obstacles rooted in ideology, structure, and in
response to current regional and international conflict; hindering progressive intentions and
backfiring by yielding unstable, resentful, war stricken nations. The degree to which democracy
promotion has be evaluated as superior, advised to foreign nations, and imposed by coercive and
consensual means, should be warranted by much more substantial evidence than what is
available.
In order to construct the base definition of democracy, in its most basic form it is where the
opponent has a chance of losing and if so happens will be removed from power. To add, if fair
voting procedures are to be produced, it requires the trust of citizens to be protected from
political, ethnic, or cultural pressures and attacks during this type of power shift that needs the
compliance and voices of citizens. Furthermore, the existence of infrastructure to ensure
protection of human rights abuses, a police force, and allows “…independent judiciary [and]
impartial elections” ( 1, pg 488).
The Democratic Peace Theory has carried a proud reputation among popular culture,
international politics, and foreign policy; all while being supported by quantitative statistics. The
Democratic Peace Theory is one of the most popular paradigms of political science presently,
and for practical instrumental reasons, however it remains unclear as to what elements within it
12. yield the desired outcome of which it promotes. The strongest supporting premise for the
success of this theory, is that historical analysis observes no evidence of democracies going to
war with one another. Democracies are less likely to fight when the citizens have some say to
what the government does with their tax money. In cases like Afghanistan where George W.
Bush bypassed congress this would obviously not apply, although citizens may apply scrutiny
and withdrawal from voting him back in office, after the fact. The idea is is that officials of a
democracy have to worry about actions and reputations which would incite voters to desire their
demotion from office. Citizens under democratic regime are attracted to fellow correspondents
in other democracies, decreasing conflict and respecting boundaries of sovereignty with more
ease. Economies among democracies have also shown to be more sustainable given vigorous
reward for technological advancement as a tendency, and competition between leaders yield an
overall increase of concern, accompanied with promises to be either delivered or at least
considered; in order to avoid demotion of position. Additionally, Foreign Policy and public
opinion polls reflect the notion that people will follow similar norms found under democratic
societies, conflict resolution tactics used within their own democracy, and are less likely to
support attacks upon another nation if it is a democracy. When a state shares the same system of
governance, familiarity, trust, and relations grow. The fact that a democratic society supports the
attack of a democracy substantially less than one of an autocracy does not necessarily pinpoint
the reasons peace is created from nations sharing this particular system. However, when people
are told that the country of concern is of a democratic regime, there is a sense of security which
decreases fear; as well as the security dilemma. Constituents believe that the other carries
similar values of morale, attached to the political obligations of a democracy. This suggests that
similar social logic invokes an unspoken social contract to which the volatile nation would be
13. less likely to react with unprecedented violent force, but civilized conflict resolution. The
institutionalized mutual respect this commonality invites also makes it difficult for politicians to
explain why they would invade or meet another nation with hostility.
Moreover, democracies are expected to follow international law more rigorously on behalf of
their conditioned behavior to abide by national and international standards, for fear of losing
position. e an autocracy is the consolidation of power by one entity, meaning the tolerance and
occurrence of scrutiny is extremely little. The last observation which is seen in support for this
theory is that democracies do not seem to have territorial disputes. It is assumed that they are
satisfied among their liberal peace and economic, political, and military alliances, that there is no
need for imperialistic ambition.
On the other hand, Farber and Gowa prelude that democracies were able to achieve peace
because of shared goals and interests during the cold war that the western democracies had with
allies. Post war emerged alliances. This historical evidence is interesting, for experts in conflict
resolution might describe the outcome as activation and suppression pressures. These occur in
the midst of difficult times where ethnic groups suppress their nationalistic identities to
collaborate towards a shared goal. Activation occurs before or after this process by activating
old hatreds for example.
Other social scientists have suggested that the relationship between the Democratic Peace Theory
and creating peace is simply a spurious correlation. The main problem is there seems to be a
chain of variables which may affect the conditions of which peace may prosper in a region.
14. After 1945, the newly formed democratic regimes had also established economic and political
alliances with the U.S. which is evidence of interdependence; a method used in resolving
intractable conflict. When one or more nations become involved in a transnational organization
which involves the interdependence upon economies, politics, desire for continuous trade, or
other factions which risks large amounts of money and prosperity, those nations are less likely to
engage in conflict. They are even less likely to go to war with one another considering the
expenses, then adding the idea that both or all nations involved will simply lose money. This
was seen when the European Union consolidated their oil and gas industries into a transnational
body interdependent on one another’s political behavior, and has thus been an example of
conflict resolution through interdependency. Gartzke (2007) supports the claim that “joint
capitalism” creates peace through a number of the ways as the ones mentioned plus decreasing
the ambition for territorial expansion by elevating the costs of war including potential profits lost
via trade and opportunities for further development, and that democracies allow for more direct
intentions through open circuits of communication (social logic and contract). Considering these
factors, Gartzke argues that democracies are statistically not less likely to engage in conflict with
one another. Studies where interdependent capitalism and democracies are not correlated was
not found to exist during the time of this research, so it is difficult to presume either way with
confidence.
This leads to the next observation, that democracies are less likely to wage war with a nation
who’s military is equal or better (which is not likely presently), for democracies would not prefer
to lose. This is not surprising for much more of the world would be ruled by autocracies.
Democracies are also found to have more stable economies over time, however autocracies can
15. boom its economy in shorter periods. This notion may offer insight as to why many countries
are reluctant to transcend their existing systems during an instable global economy.
Another theory is suggested by Rosato (2003) who states that the lack of conflict between
democracies is a consequence of the power distribution post World War Two. He assesses that
about 90% of “double democratic dyads” are among Western Europe and American territory.
This notion is supported with the fact that archival data shows the Democratic Peace Theory
taking on its presumptions only after 1945, when the U.S. consolidated dominant international
power. Another social scientist implies the cause and effect relationship occurs in reverse order.
Where peace building and the maintenance of it, contributes to the formation of democracies.
Christopher Layne argues “ states that are, or believe they are, in high-threat environments are
less likely to be democracies because such states are more likely to be involved in wars, and
states that are likely to be in wars tend to adopt autocratic governmental structures to enhance
their strategic posture” (p.45 1994). Thus, there is yet other possible reason autocracies are
hesitant to become democratic.
Countries which are insecure about possible territorial disputes would much prefer autocracies.
The Arab spring has incited many upheavals in civil unrest, revolutions against their regimes,
and demands for basic civil rights provided by the government. When basic amenities are
neglectfully withheld by the government, it creates Protracted Social Conflict (PSC).
In a debate begging the question “Should All Nations Be Encouraged to Promote
Democratization?”, standing on opposite sides Francis Fukuyama of The Center on Democracy,
16. Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University answers yes, while Edward D.
Mansfield from the University of Pennsylvania and Jack Snyder of Columbia University say no.
They outline the cases in which democratic spread was successful and more importantly where it
was not. The failures of Iraq and Afghanistan has damaged the intention for years to come. The
main issue stated by Mansfield is that since democratic formation takes such a violent course, it
is not the time to take upon this crusade in such unstable international times. It leaves an open
vulnerability for the clashing of tribes and increase in corruption.
The history of democratic transformation has been sought with long term unsmooth processes,
and unzips a portal of vulnerability during these transitional democracies. The instability from
uprooting a history of political traditions, processes, and norms rooted in culture and nationalism,
invoke advantage points seen by authoritarian, nationalistic, or rebel groups to establish power.
If democratic practices do not spread and elevate a state’s economic position, certain factions
may attempt to seize control of the nation’s resources, leaving the citizens disgruntled and
unsatisfied with the fruits of the regime change.
This can be seen in recent cases of the Arab Spring, specifically the insertion of the Muslim
Brotherhood into Egypt’s current dictator overthrow. As well as current turmoil in Libya and the
fear of such trendy efforts in Syria. It is for these reasons that the overzealous promotion of
democracy should be reevaluated and treaded with caution. There are many conflicting factors
furthering the hostility and reluctance of the Arab World to join an additional western ideal of
government, especially when the U.S. government’s reputation has fallen from grace in their
recent efforts to occupy parts of the Middle East for political gain; whether mutually beneficial
or not. Such issues include lack of infrastructure and pre-existing conditions to ferret democratic
17. development, consideration of cultural values and norms, and trade-offs of the promotion of
democracy. Whilst considering securing threats of terrorism by the emergence of Islam
fundamentalists, in promoting democracy, there must be consideration of the trade-offs between
it and these other political goals of security, where the U.S. supports undemocratic regimes such
as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, China, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and perhaps Russia. “Promoting
democracy forcefully in such situations could weaken potential allies during a period when the
U.S. needs the full cooperation of states sympathetic to U.S. interests” (p489). For offering
alternative leadership would weaken the regime’s domestic support.
Culturally, many processes in forms of social construction and governmental and civil
organization will work wonderfully in one too many locations, while not in others. Every culture
has developed norms and customs to best suit the environment from which they adapted to, plus
the set of unique circumstances which ignited the path dependent cultural evolutions that people
currently cling to; to remain in previous conditions, retain cultural heritage and meanings, as well
as other reasons which result in attachment of certain nationalistic identities deemed purposeful.
Conclusion
Therefore, to assume that democracy would be the most optimal form of government or easily
maneuvered into the cultural hegemonies within regions is simply a fallacy of international
diplomacy and cultural tolerance.
18. Conflicts are spilling over micro and macro levels of society as a consequence of perpetuated by
the endless and contagious rederick of mass media. If current procedures are to be continued in
the future further studies should be required in order to verify the theory of peace holds validity
and reliability. It would be more practical to evaluate and modernize the series of steps that this
proicess takes. A place needs infrastructure before voting can even take place. It is not
necessarily the regime type; however the regime success depends on regime management. If
collective action is to succeed in de-weaponizing cultural diversity and the practices which
accompany it, re-evaluation and restructuring in the steps of the Democratic Peace Theory need
to be not only planned but implemented into action. Perhaps elites must lower their goals and
even re-name the institutionalizing of such a regime change so that these developing countries
with insecure power structures can better adapt and retain sustainable peace.