| Preface (1995) | |
| Acknowledgments | |
| Ch. 1 | The Fact of Democratic Peace | 3 |
| The Emergence of Democratic Peace before World War I | 5 |
| The Spread of Democratic Peace | 9 |
| Democracy, War, and Other Ambiguous Terms | 11 |
| Some Alleged Wars between Democracies | 16 |
| Ch. 2 | Why Democratic Peace? | 24 |
| Alternative Explanations | 25 |
| Democratic Norms and Culture? | 30 |
| Structural and Institutional Constraints? | 38 |
| Distinguishing the Explanations | 40 |
| Ch. 3 | The Imperfect Democratic Peace of Ancient Greece | 43 |
| Democracy, Autonomy, and War in Ancient Greece | 43 |
| Who Fought Whom? | 51 |
| When and Why Did Democracies Fight Each Other? | 54 |
| Norms and Perceptions | 59 |
| Appendix: Greek City-States in the Peloponnesian War: Their Domestic Regimes and Who They Fought | 63 |
| Ch. 4 | The Democratic Peace since World War II | 72 |
| Who and When | 73 |
| What Influences Conflict? | 76 |
| Democracy Matters | 84 |
| Norms and Institutional Constraints | 86 |
| Appendix: States and Their Political Regimes, 1946-1986 | 94 |
| Ch. 5 | The Democratic Peace in Nonindustrial Societies | 99 |
| Warfare and Participation | 100 |
| Participation Matters | 105 |
| Some Examples | 111 |
| Appendix: Codes for Political Decision-making | 115 |
| Ch. 6 | The Future of the Democratic Peace | 119 |
| Covert Action against Other Democracies | 120 |
| The Discourse at the End of the Cold War | 124 |
| From the Inside Out | 129 |
| Strengthening Democracy and Its Norms | 131 |
| Can a Wider Democratic Peace Be Built? | 135 |
| Notes | 139 |
| References | 151 |
| Index | 167 |
