Democracies and War

The argument that "democracies do not fight each other" is defensible in a general context. One simply must bear in mind that exceptions tend to exist to almost any general argument. Further, the argument that "democracies do not fight each other" should not be extended to hold that democracies are less prone to engage in armed conflict than are other governments.

In Power Kills, Rummel's essential thesis is that democratic societies tend to be less violent than non-democratic societies, and, thus, democratic societies are less likely than are non-democratic societies to be associated violent actions that result in the death of either their own citizens or the citizens of other countries. This thesis is predicated on an underlying argument that unrestrained, centralized power leads to an abuse of power that more often than not is manifested in violent actions in which peo

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Category: History - D