Doyle Article

Doyle's article challenges the theory of a democratic peace. The well established theory between politicians and scholars has been that democratic societies don't wage war against each other, and thus are more peaceful. Those who support this view point claim that this lack of war makes liberal democracies the ideal form of government, and often have statistics of past wars to back up their ideas. However Doyle introduces Kant's idea that while liberal democracies tend to have a separate peace with each other, they still can and have acted aggressively towards other states in the past. Kant believes that because non-republics are not representative of a whole population, republics fear them and their actions. When a state is governed by one man or one group and not the populous, a democracy thinks that they have a right to interfere in their affairs, as they are not interfering in the rights of a state, but in one man's ideals.
Kant's theory can be applied in particular to one work of fiction, West Side Story. In between all the dancing and singing there is a significant political agenda being played out in the streets of New York City. The Sharks are a group that is more or less represented by one man, Bernardo. The Jets are the local gang, in which there is more democracy; the ideas of all gang members are heard and listened to (and danced to), not just their leader Riff's. The Jets are the republic who fear the non-republic and their one-man-interests. The rest of the Sharks might not want a gang war with the Jets, but it is only Bernardo's views that matter. Riff and the rest of the Jets thus give the Sharks no rights that belong to most states, as the will of the entire group is not represented. The Jets go and accost Bernardo in what is considered neutral territory, the gymnasium, a place where no gang is allowed to operate as a group. In the international system, this would surely be similar to an invasion of sovereignty, a move a liberal democracy wouldn't make against another democracy. There is also no direct reference to the Jets fighting against other, more democratic gangs like themselves (except the desire to be "the best gang on the street"). Kant also states that these wars fought between republics and non-republics often do more damage than not, but both sides still agree to enter into the fight. Tony dies, Bernardo dies, and Riff dies, making everyone regret their loss of life. But both sides still decided to engage in a gang war, which they knew could have disastrous consequences.
It's true that the singing and dancing and the references to Romeo and Juliet slightly disrupt this analysis, but Kant's point on which Doyle focuses is nonetheless represented. He states that liberal democracies have a separate peace amongst themselves, but not in relation to dictatorship states. They fear these states (as the Jets did the Sharks) because one man overrides the voice of the people, making their actions erratic at times. Everything can be found in West Side Story, as if Kant was a Broadway aficionado all along.