The liberal democratic philosophers argued that this could be done by the introduction of free trade based on specialization of labor. One can demonstrate this proposition as did these economists with examples of trade for such things as English textiles and Portuguese wine. To these philosophers, free trade among nations should increase the absolute wealth of all and thus reduce the need for war. Our class discussion will identify a number of the important concepts and traditional American attitudes toward these concepts. To most Americans, peace is the natural, normal condition among nations.
War is an aberration, caused by bad government and wicked or evil national leaders.
Governments that are democracies are not war-like. On the other hand, authoritarian governments are the cause of war. How about the Cold War idea idea that the Russian people were not the problem, but rather it was the Soviet government. To Americans, peace is a natural condition and if we go to war it is normally justified as a moral attack on tyranny. We seek to make the world safe for democracy or safe guard a particular state from attack by non-democratic forces.