Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Session 24: Subjectivity of democratic peace theory


      Ido Oren in 'Subjectivity of Democratic Piece' describes how political ideas or political preferences of  a dominant world power are regarded as more suitable for the governance of world as a whole. Writer says it does not matter whether a particular form of government is better or worse then the other, rather thing that hold significance is which form of government is dominant.
   
      Democracies peace claim is not about democracies as per se, rather it is about countries that are America like or of our 'kind'. It was like spreading American's views about a particular type of government.

         Democratic character of foreign countries (other than America) depends on the peacefulness of their foreign relations which in turn depends on their foreign policies towards United States. Thus, when tensions between America and Germany begin to erupt, Germany was claimed as an autocratic state. America's democratic values and norms it associated with its democracy were in part shaped by its conflict with Germany. American discourse takes anti-German approach and the specifically political scientists who goes against it risked their jobs and professional reputation. Thus, a democratic trend was set and America as a world power, set it as a necessity for its friendship.

1 comment:

  1. Good summary, though I would have liked more of your perspective. For example, do you agree with Oren's assessment that the democratic peace is subjective?

    ReplyDelete