The theory of democratic peace stands on the idea that countries with democratic governments are less inclined to have conflicts with other countries that lead to war. On the surface level this already appears to be quite shaky ground to stand on. Many countries have displayed actions that go against this stance and the very basis of why the theory should work is never really the case. On the other hand, many researchers have gathered information to support the theory and some of their findings have proven interesting. Analyzing countries with authoritarian, totalitarian, and democratic regimes, respectively, will show that a countries inclination to be involved in conflicts leading to war does not seem to be dependent on their political system at all and furthermore has even less to do with the peaceful wishes of the general population being respected by the nation's leaders. .

             Before the theory can be proven or disproven, it must first be explained. The democratic peace theory simply asserts that countries with a democratic regime will not go to war, or less likely to go to war. Many people have argued the theory before it was thoroughly studied in the 1960's. Immanuel Kant explored the theory in his essay Perpetual Peace. Kant claims that peace is a reasonable outcome of the relationship between states with a democratic form of government. He believes that the republican constitution "gives a favorable prospect for the desired consequence, i.e., perpetual peace. The reason is this: if the consent of the citizens is required in order to decide that war should be declared (and in this constitution it cannot but be the case), nothing is more natural than that they should be very cautious in commencing such a poor game, decreeing for themselves all the calamities of war.