Christopher Layne

Kant or Cant: The Myth of the Democratic Peace

I T h e theory of the “Democratic Peace” raises important theoretical issues:’ the contention that democratic states behave differently toward each other than toward nondemocracies cuts to the heart of the international relations theory debate about the relative salience of second-image (domestic politics) and of thirdimage (systemic structure) explanations of international political outcomes. Democratic peace theory has also come to have a real-world importance as well: Policymakers who have embraced democratic peace theory see a crucial link between America’s security and the spread of democracy, which is viewed as the antidote that will prevent future wars. Indeed some democratic peace theorists, notably Bruce Russett, believe that in an international system comprising a critical mass of democratic states, ”It may be possible in part to supersede the ‘realist’ principles (anarchy, the security dilemma of states) that have dominated practice to the exclusion of ’liberal’ or ’idealist’ ones since at least the seventeenth century.”2 Because of its theoretical claims and

The Waning of U.S. Hegemony—Myth or Reality?: A Review Essay

Over the next two decades, international politics will be shaped by whether the international system remains unipolar or is transformed into a multipolar system. Can the United States sustain its primacy Or will the emergence of new great powers reorder the distribution of power in the international system If U.S. power is waning, will power transition dynamics result in security competitions and an increased possibility of war In particular, what are the implications of Chinas rapid ascent to great power status If the United States is unable to preserve its hegemonic role, what will happen to the security and economic frameworks that it took the lead in creating after the end of World War II and that have provided the foundation for the international order ever since In a world no longer defined by U.S. hegemony, what would become of globalization and the open international economic system that the United established after World War II and expanded after the Cold War ended This essay reviews five publications that grapple with these questions: Stephen G. Brooks and William C. Wohlforth, World Out of Balance: International Relations and the Challenge of American Primacy; Parag Khanna, The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order; Kishore Mahbubani, The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East; National Intelligence Council, Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World; and Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World.