Development and the Liberal Peace

According to the liberal peace proposition, pairs of democratic states and pairs of states with extensive trade ties are more peaceful than other pairs of states, and democratic states are also more peaceful internally than other regime types. This article reviews the recent literature on the liberal peace, and proceeds to review the literature on how factors assoiciated with socio-economic development are related to democratization, democratic stability, and to the risk of war. Based on this review and a set of recent empirical studies, it argues that development is a precondition for the liberal peace.