As each power vies for its national interests on the world stage, how do
its own citizens' democratic interests fare at home? Alan Gilbert speaks
to an issue at the heart of current international-relations debate. He
contends that, in spite of neo-realists' assumptions, a vocal citizen
democracy can and must have a role in global politics. Further, he shows
that all the major versions of realism and neo-realism, if properly
stated with a view of the national interest as a common good,
surprisingly lead to democracy. His most striking example focuses on
realist criticisms of the Vietnam War.
Democratic internationalism, as Gilbert terms it, is really the linking
of citizens' interests across national boundaries to overcome the
antidemocratic actions of their own governments. Realist
misinterpretations have overlooked Thucydides' theme about how a
democracy corrupts itself through imperial expansion as well as Karl
Marx's observations about the positive effects of democratic movements
in one country on events in others. Gilbert also explodes the democratic
peace myth that democratic states do not wage war on one another. He
suggests instead policies to accord with the interests of ordinary
citizens whose shared bond is a desire for peace.
Gilbert shows, through such successes as recent treaties on land mines
and policies to slow global warming that citizen movements can have
salutary effects. His theory of "deliberative democracy" proposes
institutional changes that would give the voice of ordinary citizens a
greater influence on the international actions of their own government.
