Democracies do make war on each other

Submitted by Melvin Hinich (United States), Jan 27, 2006 at 10:48

Dear Dr. Pipes,

The International Relations academics are not an analytic bunch. Democracies do and can make war on one another. We attacked Canada twice and lost. We attacked and won an important war with Mexico. These wars had political support although the Mexican War has serious political opposition.

If a major political faction in a democracy believes 1) the country can win a war with gain or 2) the country must prempt another democracy or non democratic country from waging a successful war in a few years later.

Politics is too important to be left to political science professors and their countparts in international relations think tanks.
Mel Hinich Professor of Government and Economics
University of Texas at Austin
www.gov.utexas.edu/hinich

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