THE DEMOCRATIC PEACE THROUGH THE LENS OF CULTURE, 1820-1989

This article examines the extent to which cultural similarity vitiates the relationship between joint democracy and the incidence of interst ate war. Previous empirical findings which suggest that cultural/norma tive explanations of the democratic peace are more robust than institu tional/structural ones invite an analysis of the impact of broader cul tural factors on the relationship between joint democracy and war invo lvement. The author suggests several ways that cultural factors might mitigate the democratic peace phenomenon and conducts a multivariate l ogistic analysis of state dyads from 1820 to 1989 to test the main que ry. Of the cultural variables, religious similarity within dyads is as sociated with a decreased likelihood of war onset, while both ethnic a nd linguistic similarity have the opposite effect. Democratic dyads, o n average, have higher religious similarity levels than nondemocratic dyads, which, ostensibly, might play a role in reducing conflict withi n democratic dyads. However, the findings clearly demonstrate that alt hough cultural factors are significant correlates of war they do not v itiate the impact of joint democracy on war. It appears that where a p air of states share a common democratic political culture it exerts a conflict dampening impact that overrides ethnic, linguistic, or religi ous factors.