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Democratization
as a peace strategy
"How should a society be ruled in order to bring about a situation in which it holds back from using external
aggression? Kant provides us with a clear and classic answer to this question: Society must have a republican system of rule that spreads the values of political participation equally among civil society. When a situation is achieved in which foreign policy is not decided by sovereigns and kings but rather those who would carry the social and economic consequences of such a
policy, then there would be no more wars, since "people would think long and hard before
going down such as serious road". (...)
The "Ligue Internationale de la Paix et de la Liberté", which was founded in 1867 in Geneva reflected this thinking in its
name. It integrated liberal findings into its motto: "Si vis pacem, para
libertatem." Indeed, the Liga's decision to refer to Kant expressly wasn't for
nothing. The question now, however, was whether or not the quality of a system of rule could only be measured according to the freedom rights it chose to
grant? Didn't the „completely just civil constitution“ (Kant) also encompass distributive
justice? In 1885 the peace and freedom league expanded their motto to take account of social
justice: „Si vis pacem, para libertatem et iustitiam.“
While in a slogan-like
manner, the connection between the system of rule and peace was now comprehensively
expressed. When a system of rule is characterized by the freedom and codetermination of its citizens on the one hand and by social justice on the
other, the result is peace. Indeed, peace is then founded in this system of
rule."
[Taken from: Ernst-Otto Czempiel: Friedensstrategien, Systemwandel durch Internationale Organisationen, Demokratisierung und Wirtschaft, Paderborn 1986, p. 121-124]
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Wars are created by governments. Democracy will end them - Thomas Paine (1791) |
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