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The Imperial Peace: Democracy, Force and Globalization

Laffey, Mark; Barkawi, Tarak

Authors

Tarak Barkawi



Abstract

To date, the only account of the `zone of peace' among states in the core of the international system is that found in the democratic peace debates. We rework the conceptual parameters through which the object of analysis — the zone of peace — is defined in the democratic peace debates. Specifically, we historicize the concepts — `democracy' and `war' — that enable the identification of zones of peace and war, and contextualize those histories in processes of globalization. This enables us to offer an alternative account of the emergence of zones of peace and war in the international system and of the central unit of analysis in the democratic peace debates, the sovereign and territorial liberal democratic state. This account conceives of the international system as a whole and recognizes the mutually constitutive character of relations between the zones. It opens up a research agenda focused not on why democratic states do not war with one another but on the international relations of democracy and war.

Citation

Laffey, M., & Barkawi, T. (1999). The Imperial Peace: Democracy, Force and Globalization. European Journal of International Relations, 5(4), 403-434. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066199005004001

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 1, 1999
Deposit Date Dec 9, 2007
Journal European Journal of International Relations
Print ISSN 1354-0661
Electronic ISSN 1460-3713
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 5
Issue 4
Pages 403-434
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066199005004001