The Pros And Cons Of The Democratic Peace Theory

John Knowles’ novel A Separate Peace is about a few boys at a boarding school in New Hampshire. The story is centered around the friendship of two boys, Gene and Finny, at a boarding school in New Hampshire. Although in the beginning of their friendship Gene did not trust Finny, by the time he dies Gene feels as if a part of him has died, showing that he still felt closely bonded to him after all they had been through.

John Knowles’ “A Separate Peace” takes place at a boarding school during World War II. Best friends Gene and Finny have been inseparable during their time at the Devon School. This is until reality hits Gene, and he slowly starts to realize that he is inferior to his best friend. Through the unbalanced friendship between two teenagers in “A Separate Peace,” Knowles illustrates that a loss of identity may be present in a relationship if there is an unequal amount of power.

The novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles is about learning and it reveals that people have to have the bad to see the good. This thematic statement connects to both the book and the world that we live in today. Many people want everything to be perfect and beautiful but the hard truth is that it will never completely be that way. Life isn’t going to be the way every stroke was placed on the perfect painting of life that everyone has in there head which was handcrafted from their wildest dreams. Their may be some slippery patches but good will follow close behind.

Although farm subsidies all have their roots to one major piece of legislation, there are multiple variations that are common. One of such subsidy programs allows farmers to counter fluctuations in various aspects of their production. If prices for a crop take astounding hikes or fall dramatically, subsidies can provide in time of need. This is the most well-known farm subsidy program, but there are other aspects that get remarkably overlooked. Even insurance coverage, product marketing, research and conservation efforts are subsidized under the current Farm Bill. With the present situation, many Americans believe that the government carries too much control in the agricultural market. For a more detailed breakdown of where the funding in the Farm Bill goes to, see the pie chart below for a reference. These numbers are accurate as of the 2014 Farm Bill, per the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

Democratic Peace Theory is another example of how liberals prove that the spread of democratic principles is beneficial. M.W Doyle and R.J. Rummel came up with this theory in the end of the 20th century, which posits that democracies are hesitant to start a conflict with other democracies. “When the citizens who bear the burdens of war elect their governments, wars become impossible” (Doyle, 1986, p.1151). The reason of this theory is that liberal state that individuals, without the help from the government, are naturally very similar. Democracies are favourable in the setting environment where ideas of progress and liberty are common. Peace has to be established through diplomacy and war only used against authoritarian and undemocratic states in order to maintain the peace in the state system. The main example of the relevance of the theory is Europe Peace. Europe was the bloodiest continent on Earth for many centuries, but since 1945 because of the increased integration and cooperation there were no general wars between European states themselves. Liberals also mention the importance of the creation of collective security – institutions, which would be a legal framework for interaction in order to promote democratic values. Neo-liberals, such as Joseph Nye or Robert Keohane argue that

Democracy and respect for human rights have long been central pieces of U.S. foreign policy. Supporting democracy not only promotes such American values as religious freedom and worker rights, but also helps create a more secure, stable, and prosperous global arena in which the United States can advance its national interests. In addition, democracy is the one national interest that helps to secure all the others. Democratically governed nations are more likely to secure the peace, deter aggression, expand open markets, promote economic development, protect American citizens, combat international terrorism and crime, uphold human and worker rights, avoid humanitarian crises and refugee flows, improve the global environment, and help human

As Carl Jung once stated, “Man's task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious”. To reach a peaceful reconciliation, one must learn to embrace two distinct elements of their personality, the "Persona" and "Shadow." Likewise, in the bildungsroman, A Separate Peace, author John Knowles depicts the common rivalry between young adolescents, and how they struggle to accept their identity and the relationship between their unconscious self. Gene, a Devon High student, becomes best friends with Finny and grows jealous of his ostensibly flawless friend, causing him to make a life-changing decision. His struggles to reach an inner balance between his “Persona” and “Shadow” lead to the ultimate death of Finny. Gene’s transformation involves the changes of his mask and “Shadow”—from guilt and jealousy to pride and tolerance—which results in the later acceptance of the light and dark parts of himself, allowing him to truly reach adulthood and a state of peace.

This means it doesn’t protect the rights of each citizen and his or her property. Also, Democracy is not practical for large countries. In larger countries, there are simply too many people to vote on everything.

The Agriculture sector has changed monumentally over the past century in response to vast economic change and technological advancements. Farm subsidies are various forms of payments from the federal government put in place in an effort to stabilize prices, keep farmers in business, and ensure quality of crops. The federal government currently pays $20 billion in cash each year to US farmers and spent an estimated $250 billion between 1995-2005. Presently, a new farm bill is passed every five years

Agricultural subsidies is a very complex and controversial economic topic today. It will continue to be a hot topic as government continues it. It is largely debated in the United States as well as in other countries. The reason it is so largely debated is because it literally have an effect on the entire world market. Not to mention that the farm has been booming the last 5 to 10 years. This topic also tends to draw strong opinions in our area in particular due to the large agricultural community in our region. However, even within different states there are many supporters as well as opponents to these government subsidies.

Their ideas are premised on the true ideal democratic principles. However, this would make it harder for real-life application and analysis as true democracy doesn’t really exist, it’s an ideal we aspire to. This is showcased by the constant violations of the democratic principles by so-called democratic states. Like for example, colonisation which in many cases was exploitive and aimed for domination and abuse of other states and their resources which generated a lot of grievances in the colonised state. This is in contrast to the just war principles which highlight that the aim of a just war has to be just and lasting peace, not exploitation or domination like the case with the expansionist states, Germany and Japan, during World War II and that a democratic state has to foreshadow during war the kind of peace they aim for as well as the consideration for the human rights of the civilians and soldiers. The former is violated by the expansionist aims of the colonisers and the latter are violated by the generated grievances in the colonised community as a result of the human rights abuses and unjust treatment that resulted in many civil wars, terrorism and international

Discussion and diplomacy are also foundations of democracy. Debate and nonviolence are cornerstones of how our government works. With it, we avoid a lot of conflict and we can manage to find a compromise in coordination with other parties. Though, you have to ask yourself this question: does discussion always work? If we talked with Great Britain about seceding from their empire, would we even be our own country? We dissented and fought for our independence. Likewise, in the American Civil War, it would be completely unacceptable if we compromised on slavery. We fought so human beings could have basic rights, and there would be no way we could talk the South into abolishing slavery. Diplomacy is beneficial to democracy, but the truth is that without dissenting democracy would not exist at all.

The idea that democracies do not fight each other can be traced back to the writings of Immanuel Kant over two hundred years ago in essay ‘On Perpetual Peace’, however, only in the early 1980s and with the writings of Michael Doyle was the idea consolidated. According to Doyle and other advocates of the democratic peace theory, liberal democratic states have been able to maintain peaceful relations amongst themselves, but are prone to wage war against non-democratic regimes. In order to prove this theory, vast databases have been constructed of historical dyadic relationships between states as well as detailed breakdowns of incidents of inter-state war. The conclusions reached are best shown in the work of Bruce Russett who has argued that

The fundamental premises of realism consist of the five basic tenants of state craft and core assumptions of realism which comes from Morgenthau’s discussion of realism. Those principles are to deflect accountability, project modesty, don’t compromise, cultivate the military, and to maintain an external enemy.

Which, led to the debate of dyadic vs. monadic, and almost all evidence pointed to two states who share commonalities such as government structure and culture (dyadic) are more peaceful than, one state because of their system is less likely to have conflict (monadic). This did place a hole in the idea that democracies are more peaceful, but supported their claim for a need in cooperation. As well as economic interdependence, which further decreased the likelihood of war because by doing so would actually hurt your own self interest and since the actors are rational it would not be a rational choice for them to make such