Abstract

“Causes of peace” is an empirical analysis of the Kantian peace theory. According to Kant, international peace depends on three factors: republican constitutions or democracy, economic interdependence through trade, and common membership of international organizations. The theoretical logic behind this argument is as follows. Democracies tend not to fight each other because democratic norms discourage using force to solve disputes and democratic government structures make the decision to go to war against another democracy difficult. Trading goods and services results in interdependence between trade partners and waging a war against an important trade partner significantly affects citizens’ everyday life. Common international organization membership provides government officials with opportunities to develop personal networks with other government representatives. Thus, as the number of common international organization membership increases, the two countries are likely to have stronger personal networks among government officials, which makes a war less likely.