Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2026
Abstract
In this article, we review recent literature on the questions of whether existing democratic publics a) care about peaceful relations with other democracies, and b) whether their preferences are aptly translated by existing democratic institutions. Our conclusions lead us to propose an amended theory of democratically constrained foreign policy. We revisit the challenged presuppositions of the democratic peace at a moment of transnational democratic erosion. We survey the origins of the liberal republican (and later representative democratic) views emerging during the Enlightenment, highlighting Kant’s “Perpetual Peace.” We then examine the lively debate about the efficacy of democratic foreign policy-making focusing both on the preferences and values of the public and the capacity of democratic institutions to reflect the public’s wills.
Disciplines
Constitutional Law | International Law | Law
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Michael W. Doyle & Hedwig Lieback,
The Contested Roots of Democratic Peace: Foreign Policy and Democratic Accountability,
1
Peace & Democracy
1
(2026).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/4903