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Excerpt from A League of Nations: What Are We Fighting For?; Democracy Vs; Autocracy "A League of Nations," as set forth in the following pages, is a simple working plan whereby the peoples of the world can realize what is now almost universally recognized as the only real guaranty of permanent peace between nations. This, of course, is in that province of statecraft which we may call internationalism. But if the war settlement results only in establishing permanent peace between nations we may find that there is little improvement, or none at all, in the condition of the mass of humanity. To improve international relations without improving international conditions might prove a step backward by giving oppressive governments a sense of security against interference. Had a cohesive League of Nations been formed ten or fifteen years ago it is probable the Hohenzollem autocracy would have been guaranteed permanence for centuries to come. "What Are We Fighting For?" deals with this international diplomacy, which must be complemental to "A League of Nations" unless we are content to look forward to conditions in other nations such as have prevailed in Russia the past year; unless the victory (now seemingly near at hand) is to prove a sore disappointment to the millions of heroic men and women who have made it possible. "Democracy vs. Autocracy" deals with the fundamentals of these opposing principles, and shows how autocracy works its sinister designs in the disguise of political democratic forms. Except "A League of Nations," this booklet is an abbreviated epitome of a comprehensive system of economic philosophy now almost complete. The system is partially set forth in my book, "Natural Money, The Peaceful Solution" (Bankers Publishing Co., New York). About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
This lively survey of the history of conflict between democracies reveals a remarkable--and tremendously important--finding: fully democratic nations have never made war on other democracies. Furthermore, historian Spencer R. Weart concludes in this thought-provoking book, they probably never will. Building his argument on some forty case studies ranging through history from ancient Athens to Renaissance Italy to modern America, the author analyzes for the first time every instance in which democracies or regimes like democracies have confronted each other with military force. Weart establishes a consistent set of definitions of democracy and other key terms, then draws on an array of international sources to demonstrate the absence of war among states of a particular democratic type. His survey also reveals the new and unexpected finding of a still broader zone of peace among oligarchic republics, even though there are more of such minority-controlled governments than democracies in history. In addition, Weart discovers that peaceful leagues and confederations--the converse of war--endure only when member states are democracies or oligarchies. With the help of related findings in political science, anthropology, and social psychology, the author explores how the political culture of democratic leaders prevents them from warring against others who are recognized as fellow democrats and how certain beliefs and behaviors lead to peace or war. Weart identifies danger points for democracies, and he offers crucial, practical information to help safeguard peace in the future.
