Democracies and the Shock of War: The Law as a Battlefield

Over the course of the twentieth century, democracies demonstrated an uncanny ability to win wars when their survival was at stake. As this book makes clear, this success cannot be explained merely by superior military equipment or a particular geographical advantage. Instead, it is argued that the legal frameworks embedded in democratic societies offered them a fundamental advantage over their more politically restricted rivals.

Marc Cogen is Professor of International Law at Gent University and the Free University of Brussels, Belgium.