Jaroslav Tir and D.M. Gibler. Rethinking Kantian Peace: Positive Territorial Peace, Dyadic Democracy, Trade, and IGO Memberships. Paper.
A recent critique of the democratic peace literature argues that democracy most often follows positive territorial peace. Rather than the mere absence of conflict, positive territorial peace is the trust and cooperation that follows the mutual acceptance of an international border. Identified by the high-cost signal of peaceful territorial transfers between states, the critique demonstrates that the elimination of active and latent territorial threats leads to significant domestic political changes, including demilitarization and democratization within the state. In this paper, we investigate the international-level ramifications of this argument, demonstrating that the three ``legs'' of the Kantian peace are, in fact, the result of positive territorial peace. Specifically, we show that the generation of contiguous democratic dyads, increased trade, and a high density of IGO memberships can all be traced back to the elimination of territorial threat via peaceful territorial transfers. Our findings therefore imply that peaceful outcomes typically credited to the Kantian system (i.e. the reduced likelihood of militarized conflict for those dyads that are democratic, economically interdependent, and connected via IGOs) are actually epiphenomenal to the positive territorial peace.
A recent critique of the democratic peace literature argues that democracy most often follows positive territorial peace. Rather than the mere absence of conflict, positive territorial peace is the trust and cooperation that follows the mutual acceptance of an international border. Identified by the high-cost signal of peaceful territorial transfers between states, the critique demonstrates that the elimination of active and latent territorial threats leads to significant domestic political changes, including demilitarization and democratization within the state. In this paper, we investigate the international-level ramifications of this argument, demonstrating that the three ``legs'' of the Kantian peace are, in fact, the result of positive territorial peace. Specifically, we show that the generation of contiguous democratic dyads, increased trade, and a high density of IGO memberships can all be traced back to the elimination of territorial threat via peaceful territorial transfers. Our findings therefore imply that peaceful outcomes typically credited to the Kantian system (i.e. the reduced likelihood of militarized conflict for those dyads that are democratic, economically interdependent, and connected via IGOs) are actually epiphenomenal to the positive territorial peace.