Hawks and Doves: The Flawed Microfoundations of Democratic Peace Theory

On the brink of war, what influences decision makers to attack another country?

Using innovative theoretical angles, Femke E. Bakker explores whether the basic assumptions of democratic peace theory are indeed correct. She stresses the microfoundations of conflict, questioning the assumptions on which democratic peace theory relies. To find out whether decision makers from liberal democracies really are influenced by their state's democratic institutions and liberal norms, Bakker argues, we should compare them with decision makers in other regime types.

Her ambitious mixed-methods design involves experiments with around 750 students in China, Russia, and the US; an analysis of data on liberal norms from the World Values Survey; and a case study on the Falklands conflict. Taking a micro-level, actor-based approach to empirically investigate the theoretical foundations of democratic peace, Bakker delivers a fascinating analysis that is likely to prove hugely influential in the field.