ABSTRACT
Ballistic missile defense and the war on drugs represent two policy debates that benefit from a broader analytic discussion concerning the origins of insecurity. A broad consensus among politicians, academics, and business leaders has emerged that the promotion of liberal capitalist democracy is in keeping with core American interests at home and abroad and allows states to live in peace with one another. This consensus is often referred to as the 'democratic peace.' This chapter examines its merits as a state security strategy. Realists and political constructivists have serious reservations about the promotion of the democratic peace, but for widely divergent reasons. The chapter investigates theoretical arguments surrounding the democratic peace and the form of economic globalization it engenders. It examines how the US government has suppressed dissent at home. The chapter presents both approaches together in order to offer a more comprehensive critique of state practices.
