Expanding the ‘Pacific Union’?

Abstract

One of the most promising research orientations examining various contexts in which domestic political processes exercise a strong and relatively stable influence on the international behaviour of states is the literature on ‘democratic peace’.1 The ‘democratic peace’ argument is based primarily on a simple, yet extremely important, insight developed by Immanuel Kant. Speculating about the future of international relations in Europe, Kant wrote at the end of the eighteenth century that liberal republics, characterized by moral autonomy, individualism, and social order, will progressively establish peace among themselves by means of a ‘pacific union’ (foedus pacificum).2 KeywordsLiberal DemocracyDemocratic RegimeDemocratic InstitutionDemocratic TransitionInternational BehaviourThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.