Democratic Jihad? Military Intervention and Democracy

Democracies rarely if ever fight one another, but they participate in wars as frequently as autocracies. They tend to win the wars in which they participate. Democracies frequently build large alliances in wartime, but not only with other democraci...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gleditsch, Nils Petter, Christiansen, Lene Siljeholm, Hegre, Håvard
Format: Policy Research Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/06/7680987/democratic-jihad-military-intervention-democracy
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7095
id okr-10986-7095
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-70952021-04-23T14:02:33Z Democratic Jihad? Military Intervention and Democracy Gleditsch, Nils Petter Christiansen, Lene Siljeholm Hegre, Håvard ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT ALLIANCES APARTHEID ARMED CONFLICT ARMED CONFLICTS ARMS ARMS RACE AUTOCRACY CITIZENS CIVIL LIBERTIES CIVIL WAR CIVIL WARS COERCION COLD WAR COMMUNISM DEFENSE DEMOCRACIES DEMOCRACY DEMOCRATIC NORMS DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DICTATORSHIP DISSOLUTION ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC POLICIES ELECTION ELECTIONS ELECTORATE ETHNIC GROUP EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY FREEDOM FREEDOM OF SPEECH GENOCIDE GOOD GOVERNANCE GOVERNMENT SUPPORT GRASS-ROOTS HUMAN RIGHTS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION IMPERIALISM INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INTERNATIONAL LAW INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION INTERNATIONAL PEACE JUNTA LEGISLATION LIBERALS MARKET ECONOMY MIDDLE EAST MIDWIFE MILITARY INTERVENTION MILITARY REGIMES MINORITY NATIONAL INTEREST NATIONAL SECURITY NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY OFFICIAL SECRETS OPPONENTS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS PEACE PEACE RESEARCH PEACEFUL CHANGE PEACEKEEPING PEACEKEEPING MISSIONS POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER POLITICAL CHANGE POLITICAL DEMOCRACY POLITICAL INSTABILITY POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS POLITICAL RIGHTS POLITICAL SCIENCE POLITICAL SOLIDARITY PROGRESS PUBLIC DEBATE RESEARCH COMMUNITY RESPECT SELF-CONFIDENCE TERRORISM TREATY UNITED NATIONS VIETNAM WAR WARS WARTIME WEAPONS WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION WESTERN EUROPE WOMAN WORLD COMMUNITY WORLD POPULATION Democracies rarely if ever fight one another, but they participate in wars as frequently as autocracies. They tend to win the wars in which they participate. Democracies frequently build large alliances in wartime, but not only with other democracies. From time to time democracies intervene militarily in ongoing conflicts. The democratic peace may contribute to a normative justification for such interventions, for the purpose of promoting democracy and eventually for the promotion of peace. This is reinforced by an emerging norm of humanitarian intervention. Democracies may have a motivation to intervene in non-democracies, even in the absence of ongoing conflict, for the purpose of regime change. The recent Iraq War may be interpreted in this perspective. A strong version of this type of foreign policy may be interpreted as a democratic crusade. The paper examines the normative and theoretical foundations of democratic interventionism. An empirical investigation of interventions in the period 1960-96 indicates that democracies intervene quite frequently, but rarely against other democracies. In the short term, democratic intervention appears to be successfully promoting democratization, but the target states tend to end up among the unstable semi-democracies. The most widely publicized recent interventions are targeted on poor or resource-dependent countries in non-democratic neighborhoods. Previous research has found these characteristics to reduce the prospects for stable democracy. Thus, forced democratization is unpredictable with regard to achieving long-term democracy and potentially harmful with regard to securing peace. But short-term military successes may stimulate more interventions until the negative consequences become more visible. 2012-06-05T14:41:31Z 2012-06-05T14:41:31Z 2007-06 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/06/7680987/democratic-jihad-military-intervention-democracy http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7095 English Policy Research Working Paper; No. 4242 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT
ALLIANCES
APARTHEID
ARMED CONFLICT
ARMED CONFLICTS
ARMS
ARMS RACE
AUTOCRACY
CITIZENS
CIVIL LIBERTIES
CIVIL WAR
CIVIL WARS
COERCION
COLD WAR
COMMUNISM
DEFENSE
DEMOCRACIES
DEMOCRACY
DEMOCRATIC NORMS
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DICTATORSHIP
DISSOLUTION
ECONOMIC GROWTH
ECONOMIC POLICIES
ELECTION
ELECTIONS
ELECTORATE
ETHNIC GROUP
EUROPEAN UNION
FOREIGN POLICY
FREEDOM
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
GENOCIDE
GOOD GOVERNANCE
GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
GRASS-ROOTS
HUMAN RIGHTS
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION
IMPERIALISM
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS
INTERNATIONAL LAW
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION
INTERNATIONAL PEACE
JUNTA
LEGISLATION
LIBERALS
MARKET ECONOMY
MIDDLE EAST
MIDWIFE
MILITARY INTERVENTION
MILITARY REGIMES
MINORITY
NATIONAL INTEREST
NATIONAL SECURITY
NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY
OFFICIAL SECRETS
OPPONENTS
PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
PEACE
PEACE RESEARCH
PEACEFUL CHANGE
PEACEKEEPING
PEACEKEEPING MISSIONS
POLICY RESEARCH
POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER
POLITICAL CHANGE
POLITICAL DEMOCRACY
POLITICAL INSTABILITY
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS
POLITICAL RIGHTS
POLITICAL SCIENCE
POLITICAL SOLIDARITY
PROGRESS
PUBLIC DEBATE
RESEARCH COMMUNITY
RESPECT
SELF-CONFIDENCE
TERRORISM
TREATY
UNITED NATIONS
VIETNAM WAR
WARS
WARTIME
WEAPONS
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
WESTERN EUROPE
WOMAN
WORLD COMMUNITY
WORLD POPULATION
spellingShingle ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT
ALLIANCES
APARTHEID
ARMED CONFLICT
ARMED CONFLICTS
ARMS
ARMS RACE
AUTOCRACY
CITIZENS
CIVIL LIBERTIES
CIVIL WAR
CIVIL WARS
COERCION
COLD WAR
COMMUNISM
DEFENSE
DEMOCRACIES
DEMOCRACY
DEMOCRATIC NORMS
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DICTATORSHIP
DISSOLUTION
ECONOMIC GROWTH
ECONOMIC POLICIES
ELECTION
ELECTIONS
ELECTORATE
ETHNIC GROUP
EUROPEAN UNION
FOREIGN POLICY
FREEDOM
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
GENOCIDE
GOOD GOVERNANCE
GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
GRASS-ROOTS
HUMAN RIGHTS
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION
IMPERIALISM
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS
INTERNATIONAL LAW
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION
INTERNATIONAL PEACE
JUNTA
LEGISLATION
LIBERALS
MARKET ECONOMY
MIDDLE EAST
MIDWIFE
MILITARY INTERVENTION
MILITARY REGIMES
MINORITY
NATIONAL INTEREST
NATIONAL SECURITY
NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY
OFFICIAL SECRETS
OPPONENTS
PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
PEACE
PEACE RESEARCH
PEACEFUL CHANGE
PEACEKEEPING
PEACEKEEPING MISSIONS
POLICY RESEARCH
POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER
POLITICAL CHANGE
POLITICAL DEMOCRACY
POLITICAL INSTABILITY
POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS
POLITICAL RIGHTS
POLITICAL SCIENCE
POLITICAL SOLIDARITY
PROGRESS
PUBLIC DEBATE
RESEARCH COMMUNITY
RESPECT
SELF-CONFIDENCE
TERRORISM
TREATY
UNITED NATIONS
VIETNAM WAR
WARS
WARTIME
WEAPONS
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
WESTERN EUROPE
WOMAN
WORLD COMMUNITY
WORLD POPULATION
Gleditsch, Nils Petter
Christiansen, Lene Siljeholm
Hegre, Håvard
Democratic Jihad? Military Intervention and Democracy
relation Policy Research Working Paper; No. 4242
description Democracies rarely if ever fight one another, but they participate in wars as frequently as autocracies. They tend to win the wars in which they participate. Democracies frequently build large alliances in wartime, but not only with other democracies. From time to time democracies intervene militarily in ongoing conflicts. The democratic peace may contribute to a normative justification for such interventions, for the purpose of promoting democracy and eventually for the promotion of peace. This is reinforced by an emerging norm of humanitarian intervention. Democracies may have a motivation to intervene in non-democracies, even in the absence of ongoing conflict, for the purpose of regime change. The recent Iraq War may be interpreted in this perspective. A strong version of this type of foreign policy may be interpreted as a democratic crusade. The paper examines the normative and theoretical foundations of democratic interventionism. An empirical investigation of interventions in the period 1960-96 indicates that democracies intervene quite frequently, but rarely against other democracies. In the short term, democratic intervention appears to be successfully promoting democratization, but the target states tend to end up among the unstable semi-democracies. The most widely publicized recent interventions are targeted on poor or resource-dependent countries in non-democratic neighborhoods. Previous research has found these characteristics to reduce the prospects for stable democracy. Thus, forced democratization is unpredictable with regard to achieving long-term democracy and potentially harmful with regard to securing peace. But short-term military successes may stimulate more interventions until the negative consequences become more visible.
format Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
author Gleditsch, Nils Petter
Christiansen, Lene Siljeholm
Hegre, Håvard
author_facet Gleditsch, Nils Petter
Christiansen, Lene Siljeholm
Hegre, Håvard
author_sort Gleditsch, Nils Petter
title Democratic Jihad? Military Intervention and Democracy
title_short Democratic Jihad? Military Intervention and Democracy
title_full Democratic Jihad? Military Intervention and Democracy
title_fullStr Democratic Jihad? Military Intervention and Democracy
title_full_unstemmed Democratic Jihad? Military Intervention and Democracy
title_sort democratic jihad? military intervention and democracy
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2012
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/06/7680987/democratic-jihad-military-intervention-democracy
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7095
_version_ 1764401899552899072