CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2010
| Author | Sayer, Kathryn |
|---|---|
| Title | The Democratic Peace Hypothesis and the War in Iraq: A Comparative Analysis of France and Britain |
| Summary | For almost half a century, liberal scholars of International Relations have maintained that public opinion highly influences foreign policy within democracies, and although less concerned with public opinion, some realists argue that political elites and politicians influence public opinion to support foreign policy ventures. To determine the empirical validity of these claims, this thesis re-examines appropriate literature and public opinion polls representing public opinion towards the US and the war in Iraq throughout the past decade. The results suggest that, in the case of France the liberal democratic peace hypothesis can be applied when Jacques Chirac seems to have supported public opinion and rejects supporting the war in Iraq; however, this hypothesis fails to account for the case of Britain when Prime Minister Tony Blair ignores the public opinion of the British people and chooses to support the US and their war in Iraq. These results not only question the democratic peace hypothesis but the importance of public opinion in democracies today as well. |
| Supervisor | Irina Papkova |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2010/sayer_kathryn.pdf |
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