Public Opinion and the Democratic Peace
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3260754 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Tomz (0000-0002-0453-024X, Stanford University, corresponding author), Michael R Tomz, Jessica L P Weeks (0000-0002-5019-2261, University of Wisconsin–Madison, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 107 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 849-865 |
| Publication date | 2013-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0003055413000488 |
| OpenAlex | W2159300646 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 252 |
| References cited | 105 |
One of the most striking findings in political science is the democratic peace: the absence of war between democracies. Some authors attempt to explain this phenomenon by highlighting the role of public opinion. They observe that democratic leaders are beholden to voters and argue that voters oppose war because of its human and financial costs. This logic predicts that democracies should behave peacefully in general, but history shows that democracies avoid war primarily in their relations with other democracies. In this article we investigate not whether democratic publics are averse to war in general, but whether they are especially reluctant to fight other democracies. We embedded experiments in public opinion polls in the United States and the United Kingdom and found that individuals are substantially less supportive of military strikes against democracies than against otherwise identical autocracies. Moreover, our experiments suggest that shared democracy pacifies the public primarily by changing perceptions of threat and morality, not by raising expectations of costs or failure. These findings shed light on a debate of enduring importance to scholars and policy makers
Autocracy · Democracy · Morality · Phenomenon · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public opinion · Publics · Sociology · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Public Administration
Designing multi‐site studies for external validity
How Partisan Conflict in Congress Affects Public Opinion
Racialization of the democratic peace in foundational embedding models
The Rise of Experimentation in Political Science
Social Cues
Escalation firebreaks in the cyber, conventional, and nuclear domains
Does Public Diplomacy Sway Domestic Public Opinion? Presidential Travel Abroad and Approval at Home
Power, Proximity, and Democracy
How membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization transforms public support for war
A Foreign Policy Analysis Perspective on the Domestic Politics Turn in IR Theory
Is There a Partisan Divide in Citizens’ Preferences on Ukraine Support? Survey-Experimental Evidence from the US
Unraveling Americans’ Selective Sympathies Toward Israelis and Palestinians
Thankless Task
Leading ladies
Does White identity stop at the water's edge? White solidarity and racialized perceptions of foreign adversaries in the United States
Fact or fear? Elite and public opinion on the misuse of foreign aid
Public Trust in Global AI Governance Across Geopolitical Rivals
More Valuable than Blood and Treasure? Experimental Evidence on the Impact of Status on Domestic Preferences for Military Intervention
Democratic Third Parties, Conflict Intensity, and International Mediation Tracking
Vengeful Citizens, Violent States
Public support for negotiated settlement of interstate war
Tweets to the Streets? Effects of a Leader’s Social Media Messaging on Nationalist Mobilization
Elite Misperceptions in Foreign Policy
The Domestic Sources of International Trust
Self-signaling in voting
Losing on the Home Front? Battlefield Casualties, Media, and Public Support for Foreign Interventions
Leaving theory behind
Multimethod Research
Critical cues
The Zelensky moment
Why Is China Unwelcome in Taiwan? Cultural Alienation, Democratic Anxiety or Economic Loss in Explaining Taiwanese Resistance to China
The microfoundations of normative democratic peace theory. Experiments in the US, Russia and China
Cheap talk or policy lock? Nationalist frames and sympathetic audience costs in international territorial disputes
Aversion, Acceptance, or Apprehension? The Effects of Gender on US Public Opinion Concerning US-Inflicted Civilian Casualties
Still Taboo? Citizens’ Attitudes toward the Use of Nuclear Weapons
As Inscrutable as the Sphinx, but Far More Dangerous”
American Perspectives and Blind Spots on World Politics
Things You Can See From There You Can't See From Here
Does affective empathy capacity condition individual variation in support for military escalation? Evidence from a survey vignette
Audience costs in the eyes of an adversary
Public opinion and the politics of the killer robots debate
Multilateralism and public support for drone strikes
Rebel tactics and external public opinion
Standing with Ukraine? How citizens trade off self-interest and principles in supporting war-torn international partners
Thinking generically and specifically in International Relations survey experiments
Investigator Characteristics and Respondent Behavior in Online Surveys
Status Quo Bias in Ballot Wording
Demokratisk fred og (betinget) demokratisk pasifisme
China’s Influence in Asia
Shrouded in Secrecy
MAD and Taboo
The Effects of Autocratic Characteristics on Public Opinion toward Democracy Promotion Policies
Soft Power, Religion, and Anti-Americanism in the Middle East
Contextualizing Individual Attitudes on Economic Statecraft
Public Opinion and China's Strategic Communication
Domestic Attitudes toward Regional Leadership
Alliance and Public Preference for Nuclear Forbearance
Public Support for Economic Sanctions
The Politics of Alliance Cohesion
On the Use of Crowdsourcing Labor Markets in Research
A Rally for Democracy? Authoritarian Resurgence, Ukraine, and Global Democratic Allegiance
Democratic Ties That Bind? US–China Conflict and Foreign Policy Opinion in Japan and Korea
Minilateralism or the UNFCCC? The Political Feasibility of Climate Clubs
Public and elite opinion on international human rights law
A Feedback Loop
When war hits home
The Great Divides
Doi Moi and Vietnamese threat perception of Chinese economic growth
Do Democracies Support Violent Non-governmental Organizations Less Than Autocracies Do
Enforcement of international human rights law
Chips and democracy
Global public opinion toward Israel
Remember Kabul? Reputation, strategic contexts, and American credibility after the Afghanistan withdrawal
Hobbled across the Road
Business is Business
Teaching Undergraduates Research Methods
Think globally, act locally? Domestic constraints on foreign aid
Mercantilism 2.0
Priming the Costs of Conflict? Russian Public Opinion About the 2014 Crimean Conflict
Microfoundations in international relations
Public opinion, international reputation, and audience costs in an authoritarian regime
When is international trade a security threat
Democratic peace versus contractualism
Sticking it out
Oil wealth and US public support for war
Democratic values and the microfoundations of Arab support for peace with Israel
The microfoundations of territorial disputes
Friends as neighbors? Geographic closeness improves support to other governments
Experimental evidence on prestige attribution in international relations
Does female ratio balancing influence the efficacy of peacekeeping units? Exploring the impact of female peacekeepers on post-conflict outcomes and behavior
Treatment format and external validity in international relations experiments
A Public Demand Theory of Economic Sanctions
Answering the Call
Public opinion and alliance commitments in cybersecurity an attack against all
Economics, security, and individual-level preferences for trade agreements
Commanding Support
Is terrorism deadlier in democracies
Democratic peace and the norms of the public
Would U.S. Leaders Push the Button? Wargames and the Sources of Nuclear Restraint
Revisiting Hiroshima in Iran
Liberal Peace, Liberal War
Triangulating Peace
Counting the public in
Justice and the Genesis of War
Controlling the Sword
The Invisible Hand of Peace
In Time of War
Paying the Human Costs of War
While Dangers Gather
Military Threats
Democracy and Coercive Diplomacy
Congress and the Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy
Identification, Inference and Sensitivity Analysis for Causal Mediation Effects
The American people and foreign policy
Who Leads Whom?
Grasping the Democratic Peace
Perception and Misperception in International Politics
Trust and Mistrust in International Relations
Social Theory of International Politics
Politics Among Nations
The MID 3 data set, 1993–2001
Kant, Liberal Legacies, and Foreign Affairs
The Domestic Politics of Humanitarian Intervention
Culture Clash or Democratic Peace
State Socialization, International Norm Dynamics and the Liberal Peace
Individual-level Predictors of Leader and Public Support for the Use of Force
The MID3 Data Set, 1993—2001
How Public Opinion Constrains the Use of Force
Capitalism or Democracy? Not So Fast
The political incentive explanation of “democratic peace”
Is the liberal peace just an artifact of cold war interests? Assessing recent critiques
Polities and Peace
Success Matters
Liberal Peace Liberal War
U.S. Perceptions of Nuclear Security in the Wake of the Cold War
Kant’s Political Writings
Ballots and Bullets
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics
The Effect of Repeated Play on Reputation Building
Cooperation under the Security Dilemma
Assuming the Costs of War
Follow the Leader? Presidential Approval, Presidential Support, and Representatives' Electoral Fortunes
Elites and Masses
When Backing Down Is the Right Decision
Democratic Peace or Clash of Civilizations? Target States and Support for War in Britain and the United States
Drafting Support for War
Cultural Similarity, Foreign Policy Actions, and Regime Perception
Shot by the Messenger
Iraq the Vote
Evaluating Online Labor Markets for Experimental Research
The Cognitive Revolution and the Political Psychology of Elite Decision Making
Why Don't Democracies Fight Each Other
Domestic Structure, Decisional Constraints, and War
Bordering on Peace
Rethinking Democracy and International Peace
New Directions for Experimental Work in International Relations
Let’s Get a Second Opinion
The Dark Side of the Future
Elites and Masses
Rationalist explanations for war
Do Democratic Institutions Constrain or Inform? Contrasting Two Institutional Perspectives on Democracy and War
Defending International Norms
Reversing the Gun Sights
The Relationships Between Mass Media, Public Opinion, and Foreign Policy
Kant We All Just get Along? Opportunity, Willingness, and the Origins of the Democratic Peace
The Capitalist Peace
Statistical Critiques of the Democratic Peace
The Political Costs of Crisis Bargaining
Aligning Tests with Theory
Constructing a separate peace
Democratic Peace — Warlike Democracies
The Discipline of the Democratic Peace
How Liberalism Produces Democratic Peace
Images in International Relations
Domestic Audience Costs in International Relations
Public Opinion and Foreign Policy
The Two Presidencies
Politics Among Nations
Domestic Politics and War
A Comparative Theory Test of Democratic Peace Arguments, 1946-2000
Unpacking the Black Box of Causality
Atomic Aversion
Normative and Structural Causes of Democratic Peace, 1946-1986
Both Guns and Butter, or Neither
Democracy and the Peaceful Settlement of International Conflict
The Multiple Effects of Casualties on Public Support for War
Altering the Foundations of Support for the President Through Priming
Foreign Affairs and Issue Voting
The Flawed Logic of Democratic Peace Theory
Liberalism and World Politics
Military Coercion in Interstate Crises
Regime Type, the Fate of Leaders, and War
An Institutional Explanation of the Democratic Peace
Powerful Pacifists
Mass Public Decisions on Go to War
Domestic Political Audiences and the Escalation of International Disputes
Citizen Activity
Public Opinion and the Common Defense
| Unique citing works | 252 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 19,38 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2026 (14) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 249 |