Jestin Thompson
Political Science
23 April 2013
Final Paper
Theory of Democratic Peace The idea of democratic peace was brought up in the enlightened era. The theory of democratic peace was based off of Immanuel Kant’s “Perpetual Peace.” The theory of democratic peace argues that nation-states governed by democratic regimes do not tend to have conflicts with other countries that would lead to wars. With this theory, it shows that nation-states with a democratic rule are more likely to not go to war with other countries. In some cases, this theory has been proven to be true, but in other cases it has not, especially with the United States. There are many proponents and opponents for this theory. Through this essay, the theory is to see if democratic, authoritarian, and totalitarian rule can coexist peacefully together, which will be proven either to be true or untrue. In 1795, Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, wrote the basis for the theory of democratic peace, which is called “Perpetual Peace.” Through his writings, it explains how countries can reach a perpetual peace and fit the democratic peace theory. In this writing, contains the preliminary articles for perpetual peace among states. This section includes six main topics to help achieve a perpetual peace. First, he explains that after a war there should not be a treaty with provisions for the future wars between the two nation states. Secondly, no state, whether large or small, should be controlled by another state. Third, countries should rid of the standing armies. Fourth, do not borrow money in order to cause external friction with other countries. Fifth, no state can get involved with another states government. Sixth, during war no state should indulge in acts of hostility such as the hiring of assassins, poisoners, breach of capitulation, and incitement to treason against the opposing state.
Naturally of each theory there is always proponents and opponents. In this paragraph, the proponents of the democratic peace theory will be explained. There is the belief that political ideology is the reason for the existence of the democratic peace theory, which contemporary democratic peace theorists believe such as Kant, Doyle, and Russett. The liberal views make this theory true because liberals are peaceful with international relations and develop stable environments. Based on these views there are normative and institutional arguments. The normative argument explains that it is not normal to solve disputes with violence but to solve disputes through negotiations and other peaceful means. Democracies don’t believe in solving conflicts through force. Solving disputes with other countries through violence goes against all the democratic values. The institutional argument explains that there are constraints, which give reasons for not waging wars on other countries. Leaders of democratic states, who start the war, are generally held responsible for the costs and effects of war. Another argument of the democratic peace proponents is interdependence, which is economic related. Since democratic states have a free market system, they are more likely to trade with other democratic states to generate profit and develop a relationship with other countries. Through developing these relationships, it increases peace between the countries. From these explanations, many countries have been proving this theory to be true throughout history.
Just as there are proponents to this theory, there are also opponents of the democratic peace theory. A main argument opposing the democratic peace theory is the definition of war and democracy. Opposing explanations argue that the democratic peace theorists narrowly define democracy and war to fit their perspectives. First, there is the explanation of the absence of war. There are ambiguous statements of whether democracies don’t fight each other at all or they are less likely to fight each other. Second, opposing argument is the definition of war in the meaning of the calculation of deaths. In the definition of the theorists, if there are less than a thousand deaths, it should not be defined as a war. This is a way that the theorists distort the definition of war, so it portrays democratic states as peaceful nations, who don’t go to war with each other. In fact, it’s the opposite because the democratic nations do fight each other, but based off the criteria of having a thousand deaths they never had a war with each other. Last, the democratic nations recognizing each other as democratic nations. With this recognition, it is used as a standard to determine whether democratic states fight each other. Without the mutual recognition, there is no proof that democracies fight each other. In order to be recognized as a democratic state, many of the states that claim to be democratic have to fit the liberal principles. Opposing views of the democratic peace theory believe as times go on this theory will continued to be distorted to fit the different circumstances that are to come in the future.
Further in this essay, three different countries with different governing styles will be used to test the theory of democratic peace’s accuracy or falseness. For the democratic rule, the country is South Africa. Using Russia as the authoritarian rule, and China as the totalitarian rule. By using these countries, it shows if the democratic peace theory applies to other governing styles.
Although South Africa is now a democratic rule, it did not start off with this rule. The first people to live of South Africa are the San people. Following the San people, the Khoikhoi and Bantu speaking tribes settled in South Africa. In 1652, the first European settlers, whom are the Dutch, landed on the Cape of Good Hope. By the 18th century, the Dutch launched a colony, which accounted for 15,000 people including the Boers and Afrikaners, and tried to establish an independent republic. In 1815, the British took possession after the Napoleonic wars, which brought 5,000 settlers. This led to the Afrikaners moving and settling into the territory of African tribes. By 1867, “outlanders” began to arrive because of the discovery of diamonds and gold. Because of this influx Cape Colony’s Prime Minister Cecil Rhodes decided to spark a rebellion against the outlanders in the end it backfired and forced him to resign. On October 11, 1899, the Boers started a war and admitted to defeat by 1902. By 1910, South Africa became union with their first Prime Minister Louis Botha. In 1912, they organized political activity among Africans by starting the African National Congress. As time went on, South Africa’s government has become more corrupt. Jan Christian Smuts refused to sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which brought apartheid to South Africa. The nationalists imposed restrictions on all non-white persons to give them no authority such as banning the African National Congress. Apartheid forced every non-white person out of designated white area. The Africans were moved out of cities to rural areas, where they lived in abject poverty. There were protests against apartheid by the African National Congress because of these protests many were killed. In 1964, Nelson Mandela was put in jail for life because of his rise against apartheid. In 1989, F.W. de Klerk became president, which began the ridding of apartheid. De Klerk released Mandela after 27 years of imprisonment and removed the ban of the African National Congress. By 1991, de Klerk and Mandela started to work on a new constitution, which dismantled apartheid and created a multiracial democracy with majority rule.
As a democratic state, South Africa divides its powers among their government. In their government, there are 3 different levels that include the National level, Provincial level, and Local level. The National level includes a legislative, executive and judicial authority. The Provincial level includes a provincial government, legislative, and executive authority. On the local level, it is filled with municipalities and municipal councils. With their international affairs, South Africa has been having an ongoing dispute with Namibia, a country they once had control over. This dispute is about the location of the boundary in the Orange River. This dispute has started once Namibia has gained its independence from South Africa.
Varangian leader Rurik and his followers landed in Eastern Europe, and helped his people to the Russian city of Novgorod in 862. Oleg, Rurik’s successor, extended the power of Novgorod southward. Oleg gained control of Kiev in 882 marking the first establishment of a unified The empire became known as Kievan Rus’ and flourished for the next 300 years. In the 13th century, Kievan Rus’ was destroyed by the arrival of invaders, the Mongols. In 1237, Batu Khan launched an invasion of Kievan Rus’ from present day Kazan. They destroyed all the major cities of Kievan Rus’ except Novgorod and Pskov. The Mongol state became known as the Empire of the Golden Horde. In June 1812, Napoleon began his Russian campaign. An invasion of Russia was an attempt to force Tsar Alexander I to submit to Napoleon. Eventually Napoleon’s army began to decline from fatigue, hunger, desertions, and raids by Russian forces. A battle was necessary to prevent Napoleon’s rule so the opposing armies met at Borodino field. Neither army gained victory from this battle, just thousands of dead men. Russia then withdrew forces and prompted citizens of Moscow to begin a massive and panicked exodus. Napoleon arrives in Moscow waiting for Alexander, but their wait was in vain and Napoleon ordered his troops to march back home, leaving Russia in victory. When disorder broke out in Petrograd (present day St. Petersburg) in March of 1917 and there was defection in the Petrograd military post the Bolshevik Revolution launched. Nicholas II was forced to renounce his throne on March 15, 1917. Revolutionaries killed Nicholas II along with his family in July of 1918. The standing government lost ground to the Bolshevik and the Kerensky government was overthrown. Authority rested in a Council of People’s Commissars with Vladimir Lenin as prime minister. In 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established as a union. On January 21, 1924, Lenin passes away, and conflict has risen between Joseph Stalin and Trotsky. Later on, Trotsky was banished from the USSR and Stalin took the position as a prime minister. From Stalin gaining control, he became a dictator and whoever went against him was put into a labor camps. Through Stalin’s rule, the USSR entered World War 2 first supporting Adolf Hitler, but in the end, they go against him. After the war, France, the U.S., Great Britain, and USSR divided Germany. In this division, it caused tensions between USSR and the Western powers, which caused the blockade of Berlin. Tightening its control on Communists states from Poland to Albania, which is called the “iron curtain.” This led to the Warsaw Pact, which marks the beginning of the Cold War between the U.S. and USSR not ending until 1992. In 1992, Russia started a change in economic reforms. In 1993, the USSR became the Russian Federation and established its constitution as a constitutional federation.
As a democratic state, Russia has divided its state powers among the government. The Russian government consists of the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judiciary branch. In the executive branch there is the President and Prime Minister. The legislative branch is divided into two powers: the State Duma is the lower power in Russian Federal Council and the Federation Council is the higher power. Russia’s Judicial Branch consists of the Constitutional, Supreme, and Superior Courts. Russia’s ruling is a democratic state with a republican form of government. Russia has put on a façade of being a democratic state, but in actuality it is authoritarian. Based on the people who have held positions, it has ben the same people switching from being the Prime Minster to being the president. They want to remain in control of Russia without giving any other person the chance to govern Russia. Also many of the people who have power in the government takes on two or three jobs that are meant to be divided among other people. Internationally, Russia and Georgia, a republic, have had conflict. Russia once had control over Georgia before gaining independence on April 1, 1991. In 2008, Russia sent troops to Georgia because two regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, have broken away. These two regions asked for Russia’s military assistance, which created more tension between Russia and Georgia. Georgia launched an attack in South Ossetia because they thought a invasion of Russia was coming. Russia sent troops to protect the civilians in the breakaway regions. In November 2011, Georgia and Russia reached a trade agreement.
China has always had a rule where the leader has total control of the country. China’s civilization began in the Shang Dynasty, which lasted from 1500 to 1000 B.C. In the Shang Dynasty, the Chinese developed a writing system, which developed the feudal states into an advance civilization. During the Chou Dynasty (1122-249 B.C.), China has developed the philosophical thinkers such as Confucius, Mo Ti, and Mencius. Under the control of Ch'in Shih Huang Ti, the feudal states were united and the extensive building of the Great Wall of China had begun. From the Han Dynasty, China has started commercial trading in the West. During the T’ang Dynasty, the golden age of Chinese history developed the painting, sculpture, poetry, and a mass production of books. In the last of the dynasties, Ming overthrew the Mongol, and in turn the Manchus overthrew the Mings. From 1839 to 1842, there was the Anglo-Chinese War, which caused instability and concessions to the Western powers. In 1908, the death of the empress and the recession of her infant son were followed by a rebellion, which was led by Dr. Sun Yat- sen, which later becomes the president. He later resigned and allowed Yuan Shih- k’ai to take power. After the death of Yuan, there was more internal conflict in China. On September 12, 1931, Japan launched an invasion in Manchuria to seize the land from China. This continued until 1945, and Japan surrendered to the Western Allies. A civil war between Chiang’s Kuomintang forces and Mao Zedong’s Communists to see who would gain control of China. Despite U.S. support of Chiang, Mao and his supporters managed to take control of China. On October 1, 1949, Mao regime was called the People’s Republic of China.
As a totalitarian rule, China’s form of government is communist. In their government structure, China has a president and vice- president. Another part of their government is the National People’s Congress, this includes a Standing Committee, Chair, and Secretary General. Additional to there Congress, they have a State Council that includes a Premier, Vice- Premier, and State Councilors. Finally, they have a Supreme People’s Court and a Supreme People’s Procuratorate, which both include a president. They are a totalitarian rule because they control every aspect of their people’s lives. China has strict controls their television stations, communication airways, radios, and newspapers. Each family can only have one child. Their people don’t have a choice in what career they want. Last year, China has been having growing tensions with the Philippines and Vietnam over the neighboring islands and its resources. China declared sovereignty over the island, but Vietnam claims the Paracel and Spratly islands while the Philippines say they have territorial claims on Spratly islands. Vietnam and the Philippines have been more aggressive in this dispute by dispatching military ships. There is an unlikely chance that this dispute will be solved diplomatically.
I do agree with the democratic peace theory. In reality, many of the democratic states with liberal views do not have wars with other countries. South Africa proves this theory. Although South Africa has a dispute with Namibia, this dispute has not led to war or any type of violence between the two countries. As a developing country, South Africa is starting to grow and emerge in to the market. They are becoming more involved with trade and creating relationships with other countries to get support. While Russia seems to be a democratic rule, it is authoritarian because its constant rotation of the same two people that are in power of being president and the Prime Minister. Russia having the dispute with Georgia proves this theory because it used force to get their way in this situation. Georgia and Russia had a rise in tension, which caused this sort of violence in these countries. Being a totalitarian rule China wants to have control over everything from its people to seizing other countries or in this case islands. China is willing to do whatever it takes to get its ways even if it results in violence. China will most likely enter this dispute with Vietnam and the Philippines in a violent way. History has prevailed that liberal states are less likely to go to war with each other. Proving that peace can be achieved by the democratic peace theory.

Work Cited
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