Democratic Peace

The basis of modern democracy promotion is the concept of Democratic Peace, which states that two democracies will never go to war with each other due to existing freedoms and civil rights. Therefore, many efforts, especially by the United States, to resolve conflicts in instable regions like the Middle East take the form of trying to establish democratic institutions. However, this promotion is not functioning as it is envisaged to do, and is leading to an overall loss of freedom. This essay argues that while the Middle East could be compatible with a variant of democracy, the promotion through other states is not leading and cannot lead to less war. This will be done by first explaining the concept of Democratic Peace further and examining

In most Middle Eastern wars, conflicts are caused by multiple factors. One major factor is the fight for oil, which is fuelled by the state-driven economies of most Arab states. Especially non-state actors have harder access to oil revenues and will more likely violently fight for the profit. Finally, as democracies can also have state-driven economies, it seems less important which regime type a state has and more important what other factors play a role. An extension of the Collier-Hoeffler Model supports this argumentation by revealing that a high level of authoritarianism is usually not the major reason for conflict , and thereby the Democratic Peace Theory loses one of its reasoning

However, these examples are not typical ones, as democratizing states do not usually start the wars they are involved in. This is explained through a lack of predictability of newly institutionalized government, who then fail to send clear signals to allies and enemies. A second reason might be that their weak institutions make them especially vulnerable, inviting non-state actors such as terror groups to increase their influence, or neighbours to seize the chance to win a war about disputed borders or waters – prime reasons of wars in the Middle East.

Conclusion

The Democratic Peace Theory, on which recent democracy promotion efforts are based, can be invalidated by multiple arguments. Even if one assumed that it was to a certain extent legitimized, the promotion of democracy as it is ignores short- and medium-term costs and risks of democratization, and also does not address the type of wars most Middle Eastern states are fighting. Therefore, most examples show that the efforts have been counterproductive and have affected the region