DEMOCRATIZING FOR PEACE

The argument that democratization can bring about war is a powerful cr itique suggesting limits to the linkage between democracy and peace. T his research examines this claim. Our findings demonstrate that democr atizing polities al-e substantially less war prone than previously arg ued. By focusing on the characteristics of the transition process, we show that as contemporary polities become more democratic they reduce their overall chances of being involved in war by approximately half W e also find that rocky or especially rapid transitions or reversals ar e associated with a countervailing effect; namely, they increase the r isk of being involved in warfare. Both in the long term and while soci eties undergo democratic change, the risk of war are reduced by democr atization and exacerbated by reversals in the democratization process. To reach these conclusions, we developed and applied a legit model li nking authority characteristics and war involvement using Polity III a nd Correlates of War databases.