It Takes Two: An Explanation of the Democratic Peace

25 Pages Posted: 19 Aug 2003

See all articles by Gilat Levy

Gilat Levy

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Economics

Ronny Razin

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE)

Date Written: June 2003

Abstract

In this paper, we provide an explanation of the democratic peace hypothesis, i.e., the observation that democracies rarely fight one another. We show that in the presence of information asymmetries and strategic complements, the strategic interaction between two democracies differs from any other dyad. In our model, two democracies induce the highest probability of peaceful resolution of conflicts. But it takes two for peace; one democracy involved in a conflict does not necessarily increase the probability of a peaceful resolution compared to a conflict between two non-democratic regimes.

Keywords: Democratic peace, cheap talk

JEL Classification: D82

Suggested Citation

Levy, Gilat and Razin, Ronny, It Takes Two: An Explanation of the Democratic Peace (June 2003). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=433844

Gilat Levy (Contact Author)

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Economics ( email )

Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom
+44 20 7955 6652 (Phone)

Ronny Razin

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

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