Democracies and Success in War Essay example -- Government War Democra

Democracies and Success in War Introduction Democratic governments have spread quickly around the world since the end of the Cold War and fall of the Soviet Union. Democracy has become one of the most desired regime types amongst states and is contributed to fostering wealth, stability, and even peace. Dan Reiter and Allan Stam argue that democracies are the most successful in war or military combat. In their book, Democracies at War, Stam and Reiter argue that after observing conflicts since the 1800’s, democratic governments tend to be more selective in choosing conflicts to participate in and democracies also have a propensity to win more often than authoritarian regimes. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study to test if democracies fight better wars. The paper will examine Stam and Reiter’s four propositions presented in their book and test the two propositions, political culture and political structure, that the authors suggest have a significant impact on democracies and the outcome of war. There are no previous intense case studies that have been performed over democracies and their success in wartime situations. Since only brief examples of case studies have been performed in previous literature, this paper will contribute to the discussion by presenting an intense case study on Israel during the Six Day War in 1967 and Yom Kippur War in 1979. For Stam and Reiter to be correct in their assessments over democracies high success rate in war, political culture and political structure must be found internally within Israel during the time period of these two conflicts. To be able to identify political structure and culture I have proposed a few variables that should be present wit... ...d freely choose to participate in both conflicts. However, the enormous threat by the Arab states, not only in these wars but since independence, were so overwhelming that Israelis had no choice but to fight or risk genocide thus giving merit to Desch’s argument. Democracy is winning out on all accounts and continues to grow, while authoritarian regimes, by choice or force, are dwindling on the world stage. Further research on Stam and Reiter’s claims should be tested, along with other arguments from democratic theorist. I suggest that an alternative case study be performed concerning a successful authoritarian regime to test claims of realist and institutionalist. A study of this nature coupled with research such as this paper presents can be compared and evaluated to obtain a firmer grasp on regime type and success in war.