One way to rid the world of war might be to increase democracy, according to an article by Michael Doyle (“Why They Don’t Fight; the Surprising Endurance of the Democratic Peace,” Foreign Affairs, July/August 2024).

Academics and politicians have become interested in “democratic peace theory,” the article states. Are democracies less likely to go to war? Of course, the United States, a democracy, certainly has attacked other nations in its almost 250 year history. So have major democracies in Europe.

However, according to the article, the difference is the general absence of war between democracies.

After all, states ruled by one individual or a few strong individuals do not have to ask their citizens to vote on going to war or much of anything else, as their citizens generally don’t vote, at least in free and fair elections.

The article not only delves into the current differences between strong democracies and more autocratic states but also between states with different degrees of democracy.

At any rate, the evidence of support for peace by citizens of democracies seems intuitive. A democratic form of government, by definition, gives the people the power of going to war or not. Why would I or any other citizen want war? The exception, of course, is after an obvious attack by a hostile power. Even then, our response should be proportionate, targeted at the perpetrators only, a matter of self-protection.