How to Define Democracy System in which citizens have the ability to remove the leader Maybe also o Free fair elections with multiple candidates parties o Division of power constraints on executive o Independent judiciary o Widespread suffrage o Press Freedom o Constitution clear defined rights for citizens What is Democratic Peace Democracies fight as many wars as non democracies Democracies fight smaller disputes against other democracies But democracies don t fight full scale wars against other Many argue that there have been literally zero wars between democracies democracies Explaining Democratic Peace Structural model o Democratic leaders face constraints re election legislature constitutional limits o Wars tend to be unpopular at least in the long run o Policymaking in democracies transparent so less chance of intentions being misjudged Normative model o Conflicts within democracies resolved peacefully for example through court system o Perhaps leaders take this idea into foreign policy o Democracies may be more likely to use peaceful methods of conflict resolution Criticisms of the Democratic Peace Theories don t really explain what is special about pairs of democracies Democratic countries have more in common than regime type capitalism region culture Democracies tend to have more settled borders than other states Lots of borderline cases that might violate the law o Kargil War India Pakistan 1999 o Germany in WWI o UK Finland in WWII o Turkish invasion of Cyprus 1974 o American Civil War What About Democratization other states States transitioning to democracy more likely to fight wars than They even fight democracies This may be due to the use of nationalism to consolidate support in combination with weak institutions Criticisms o Many of these cases really internationalized civil wars o Only considers regime changes not absolute levels of democracy o Moves toward democracy may be driven by unrest What is an Arms Race A repeating pattern of one state deciding to increase military capabilities at least in part because another state has done so Assumption that it is driven by security interests fears Since beginning of the Cold War focus has been on nuclear arms races but can apply to other technologies as well fighter jets aircraft carriers nuclear subs drones Why should we care about arms races Guns vs Butter trade off governments have limited resources to spend Military is often not the most economically efficient use for them Some evidence spending lead to decreases in education spending in Guns vs Butter US The Spiral Model Territory rivals always there so why do they only sometimes cause Security dilemma actions taken for defensive purposes often States will respond by increasing their own arms which will again wars perceived as aggressive be seen as aggressive Distrust spirals to the point that any dispute is likely to lead to war How to End Prevent Arms Races Arms races are prisoner s dilemmas Everyone would be better off spending their money on something else but there is an incentive to secretly continue the arms race and gain an advantage So the issue is finding a way to trust each other Information about compliance sufficient to produce trust cooperation Nuclear Weapons Strategic big long range weapons intended to destroy large targets cities military bases other nukes etc Tactical small no built in delivery system for use in conventional battles primarily intended to destroy a tank Nuclear Deterrence would otherwise do Deterrence ability to stop someone from doing something they 2nd strike Capability ability to retaliate against a nuclear strike regardless of size and inflict an unacceptable cost on the enemy How to assure 2nd strike o Nuclear triad Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles ICMBs Aerial bombers Submarine launched missiles Mutually Assured Destruction MAD situation in which two states o Or 3 000 ICBMs have 2nd strike capability o Key to nuclear deterrence Type I immediate deterrence against direct nuclear attack Type II extended deterrence against extreme provocation o Non nuclear attacks nuclear attacks on allies Type III deterrence against moderate provocation Nuclear Arms Control Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty 1970 US and USSR agreed not to build Strategic Arms Limitation Talks 1969 1979 froze number of missile defense shields ICBMS SLBM Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty 1991 2001 capped US and Russia at 6 000 warheads 1 600 ICBM SLBM Non proliferation Treaty 1970 states without nukes agree not to pursue them states with nukes agree not to help others get them