Democratic Peace : A Historical and Cultural Practice

This book advances the theory that “democratic peace” does not exclusively refer to an absence of war among democracies but should also be thought of as a particular way of “doing, thinking, and feeling” peace. Democratic peace is not only then a statistical finding or a rhetorical commonplace invoked to justify foreign policy decisions. Rather, the notion also refers to a historically and culturally situated practice.

Taking this reconceptualization as the theoretical point of departure, the author develops a historical reconstruction of democratic peace laying bare its historical background and assessing its political significance. Tentatively situating it within the cultural history of modernity, he reconstructs how the idea of a democratic peace informed diplomatic action at the onset of the Cold War and during the Arab Spring.

The primary audience are researchers in international relations, specifically democratic peace theorists, peace researchers, cultural sociologists, and international practice theorists.

Jorg Kustermans is Associate Professor of International Politics in the Department of Political Science at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. He works at the intersection of international theory, social theory, and historical international relations, with publications both in International Relations (Journal of International Relations and Development, Review of International Studies, Millennium, Global Constitutionalism, International Organization, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Global Studies Quarterly) and in related fields (Thesis Eleven, Journal of Historical Sociology, Journal of the History of International Law).