2003/11/07 by Michael Mousseau · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #Political Conflict and Governance #International Relations and Foreign Policy #International Development and Aid #Democracy #Nexus (standard) #Politics #Political economy #Legitimacy #Liberal democracy #Political science #Positive economics #Sociology #Economics #Law
paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.0020-8833.2003.00276.x
openalex publication_date 2003/11/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Drawing on literature from Anthropology, Economics, Political Science and Sociology, an interdisciplinary theory is presented that links the rise of contractual forms of exchange within a society with the proliferation of liberal values, democratic legitimacy, and peace among democratic nations. The theory accommodates old facts and yields a large number of new and testable ones, including the fact that the peace among democracies is limited to market-oriented states, and that market democracies—but not the other democracies—perceive common interests. Previous research confirms the first hypothesis; examination herein of UN roll call votes confirms the latter: the market democracies agree on global issues. The theory and evidence demonstrate that (a) the peace among democratic states may be a function of common interests derived from common economic structure; (b) all of the empirical research into the democratic peace is underspecified, as no study has considered an interaction of democracy with economic structure; (c) interests can be treated endogenously in social research; and (d) several of the premier puzzles in global politics are causally related—including the peace among democracies and the association of democratic stability and liberal political culture with market-oriented economic development.