HOW DEMOCRACIES USE INTERVENTION - A NEGLECTED DIMENSION IN STUDIES OF THE DEMOCRATIC PEACE

Confidence has grown in the finding that democracies do not wage war a gainst one another. Two decades of empirical investigation that suppor t this proposition, in conjunction with the recent expansion of the de mocratic community, have understandably inspired hope in the 'democrat ic peace' envisioned by Immanuel Kant and Woodrow Wilson. This article collates three streams of previously unexamined evidence that speak t o the promise of this hope. Looking cross-nationally at the incidence of overt military intervention and employing two definitions of democr acy, the research explores how democratic states have used this instru ment of coercive diplomacy in the 1974-91 period. The study concludes with a discussion about the role that intervention might play in the p reservation of peace in the post-Cold War era.