민주주의, 시장경제 그리고 평화
Spread of Liberal Democracy...for Peace
by
Jun 29. 2020
연구공간 자유 (www.TheInstituteForLiberty.com)
자유민주주의의 전파
"Spread of Liberal Democracy" Again
: Still a Good Way to Reduce Global Uncertainties
Sang Hyuck LEE
(Ph.D. in Internatonal Law / Texas MBA)
(sanghyuckleephd@gmail.com)
In terms of global peace and security, there are still a variety of global uncertainties such as North Korean nuclear crisis, international terrorism, exclusive nationalism etc. These days, not a few people revealed their negative stance against the idea of “exporting democracy” as a solution for such global problems. However, the policy to spread liberal democracy—i.e. politically ‘democracy’ and economically ‘market economy’—is still a good and recommendable, though imperfect, way to reduce such global uncertainties and consequently to achieve global peace and prosperity. In this context, to have a historical review on the developments of the so-called “democratic peace” theory seems to be quite meaningful and necessary, touching on Immanuel Kant, Bruce Russett, Erik Gartzke and Thomas L. Friedman.
To begin with, Immanuel Kant, founding father of liberal peace theory, envisioned the idea of “perpetual peace” based on his strong belief in rationality or reason of the modern civil society. Philosophically based on rationalism[1], he imagined that those modern citizens armored with “pure reason” or rationality would not make an irrational or unreasonable choice of waging a war. He suggested “civil constitution” or “republican constitution” as a symbol of rationality or reason. Then, he contended that “The republican constitution … gives a favorable prospect for the desired consequences, i.e. perpetual peace.” by mentioning that “if the consent of the citizens is required in order to decide that war should be declared, nothing is more natural than that they would be very cautious in commencing such a poor game …”[2] In general, Kantian perpetual peace is considered as the beginning of the democratic peace theory.[3]
Then, based on the tradition n of Kantian peace theory or political liberalism, Bruce Russett, renowned political scientist at Yale University, elaborated the idea of “democratic peace”. He argued that “Democracies almost never fight each other”, by explaining that “… democratically organized political systems in general operate under restraints that make them more peaceful in their relations with other democracies.”[4] This argument became as a theoretical basis for President Bill Clinton’s policy called “Spread of Democracy” and President George W. Bush’s policy called “Spread of Liberty”. On the other hand, Erik Gartzke, Professor at Columbia University, contended a contrarian concept of “capitalist peace”, mentioning that “… capitalism, and not democracy, leads to peace. … Democratization, paradoxically, implies increasing tensions among democracies. Free markets and development, in contrast, lead nations closer together, or at down grade historic territorial animosities.”[5]
Interestingly, Thomas L. Friedman, globally well-known New York Times columnist, successfully translated the “democratic peace” theory or the “capitalist peace” theory in difficult academic jargon into his own Big Mac theory—i.e. the “Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention”—in casual daily language. He explained that “… when a country has reached an economic development where it has a middle class strong enough to support a McDonald's network, it would become a "McDonald's country.” With such metaphor of McDonald’s, he argued that “No two countries that both had McDonald's had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald’s.”[6] The concept of “middle class” in the contemporary society, as symbolized by “McDonald’s”, is comparable to that of “civil society” in the modern society especially in terms of rationality which is a solid foundation not only for democracy but also for capitalism (i.e. market economy).
In conclusion, theoretically and empirically, it is nearly impossible to deny the power of liberal democracy—i.e. philosophically, rationality or reason; politically, democracy or majority rule; and economically, market economy or capitalism—on not only prosperity but also peace. Therefore, the policy to spread liberal democracy must be, persistently and consistently, pursued as a way to reduce current global uncertainties, even though it may not be a panacea. However, we must be extremely careful not to be deluded by such arguments as “evitable dominance of liberal democracy” or “triumph of liberal democracy” based on extreme utopianism.[7] As Robert Kagan, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, argued, only the collective power and collective will of liberal democratic countries can make it possible to spread liberal democracy.[8]
