ABSTRACT
German philosopher Karl von Clausewitz wrote that “war is the continuation of politics by other means.” Political debate and decisionmaking are the primary means by which conflicts are resolved both within and between nations; when people cannot resolve conflicts through politics, the result is violence. Several empirical studies of conflicts between nations over the past two centuries reveal that although democracies and nondemocracies have been equally likely to fight wars with nondemocracies, wars between liberal democracies have been exceedingly rare. Some of the most persistent conflicts of the Cold War years—North Korea versus South Korea, North Vietnam versus South Vietnam, China versus Taiwan, Israel versus Palestinians, West Germany versus East Germany—were the result of partitions. In any case, the American people and their elected representatives should be better able to assess the costs and benefits to the nation of involving itself in a conflict abroad before such involvement begins.
