Reliable Partners - How Democracies Have Made a Separate Peace (Paperback, New Ed)

"For the last quarter-century the question of whether democracies are inherently inclined to conduct peaceful foreign policies has been the most extensively studied and heatedly debated issue in the fields of political science and international relations. With "Reliable Partners" Charles Lipson has produced the definitive study of the question, which summarizes, synthesizes, and goes beyond everything else written about it."--Michael Mandelbaum, Senior Fellow, The Council on Foreign Relations, author of "The Ideas That Conquered the World"

"A crucial question for our future is the truth of the claim that democracies are unlikely to fight each other. After a careful examination of alternative explanations, Charles Lipson has produced an intriguing argument about the causation behind this correlation. It is an original and important work."--Joseph S. Nye, Dean, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

"Scholars have long debated whether democracies fight each other. Charles Lipson persuasively closes that argument and explains how and why democracies are different. With verve and wit, he gathers a carefully crafted set of propositions like snowballs rolling down a hill until they strike like an avalanche with a fully constructed 'contracting theory.' Democracies avoid war with each other, Lipson demonstrates, because they have a unique capacity to bargain and keep their commitments. "Reliable Partners" is a lucid and compelling book for the experts and the general reader."--Robert A. Pastor, Vice President and Director of the Center for Democracy and Election Management, American University

"Comprehensive, impressively researched, and a pleasure to read, "ReliablePartners" is a major contribution and the best single book on the subject. Lipson breaks new ground in answering why the democratic peace exists. His work will become a major reference point for future scholarship in the field."--Robert J. Lieber, Georgetown University, editor of "Eagle Rules: Foreign Policy and American Primacy in the Twenty-First Century"