Electing to Fight: Why Emerging Democracies Go to War (Belfer Center Studies in International Security)
"American foreign policy has been based on the premise that democracy                 promotes peace.Electing to Fightconclusively shows, however,                 that democratization, when mishandled, leads to war. Its challenge to the                 conventional beliefs of scholars and politicians makes it one of the most important                 books on international affairs in recent decades."Samuel P. Huntington, Albert J. Weatherhead III University Professor, Harvard                 University'Electing to Fightis an important book. With                 analytical power and historical depth, Mansfield and Snyder argue for a simple                 conclusion: democratization can be dangerous, even if democracy, once achieved, is a                 good thing. Scholars, journalists, politicians, and citizens all need to hear this                 message, and to heed it. If Mansfield and Snyder are right, then policies that rely                 on war to promote elections are bound to produce disaster.'Joshua Cohen, Leon and Anne Goldberg Professor of the Humanities and Head of the                 Department of Political Science, MIT"American foreign policy has been based on the premise that democracy                 promotes peace. *Electing to Fight* conclusively shows, however, that                 democratization, when mishandled, leads to war. Its challenge to the conventional                 beliefs of scholars and politicians makes it one of the most important books on                 international affairs in recent decades."--Samuel P. Huntington, Albert J.                 Weatherhead III University Professor, Harvard University