ABSTRACT
Do the beliefs of leaders matter in reinforcing or qualifying the democratic peace? We usually think of the democratic peace-the notion that democratic states are more peaceful (at least toward each other) than nondemocratic states-as strictly a state-level phenomenon. But there are many reasons to question that assumption. Inherent in the state-level assumption is that "one size fits all" and that the idiosyncratic beliefs of individual leaders do not matter. This assumption is a particularly problematic one for those who think the democratic peace is driven by the cultural and normative elements of a democracy. The cultural explanation of the democratic peace assumes that all democratic leaders have either internalized or are otherwise constrained by the same template of beliefs about the utility of conflict behavior toward other states. Individual leaders of democratic states do not have significantly different or autonomously held individual beliefs sufficient to cause variance in high-level conflict decisions. Put differently, any independent role for individuals is left out.
