Assessing the Capitalist Peace

This book unites original contributions to the debate on the Capitalist Peace and thus the idea that key attributes of free markets make the world more peaceful. Key proponents of this thesis as well as their most prominent critiques engage into a lively debate on the theoretical foundations of this claim and its empirical relevance vis-à-vis competing explanations such as the notion that democratic pairs of states are peaceful.

This book was originally published as a special issue of International Interactions.

Researchers have recently reinvigorated the idea that key features associated with a capitalist organization of the economy render nation states internally and externally more peaceful. According to this adage, the contract intensity of capitalist societies and the openness of the economy are among the main attributes that drive these empirical relationships. Studies on the Capitalist Peace supplement the broadly received examinations on the role that economic integration in the form of trade and foreign direct investment play in the pacification of states. Some proponents of the peace-through-capitalism thesis controversially contend that this relationship supersedes prominent explanations like Democratic Peace according to which democratic pairs of states face a reduced risk of conflict.

This volume takes stock of this debate. Authors also evaluate the theoretical underpinnings of the relationship and offer an up-to-date idea history and classification of current research. Leading scholars comment on these theoretical propositions and empirical findings.

This book is an extended and revised version of a special issue of International Interactions.