Peace and Prosperity in an Age of Incivility / Edition 1

by William Eric Davis

Overview

Peace and Prosperity in an Age of Incivility presents a comprehensive theory about peace and prosperity. It asserts that three core political values-liberty, order, and equality- must be allocated by societies through law and policy. This book shows that the optimal allocation is pure balance. Balance of values provides the origin of the "democratic peace," the observation that democracies rarely fight each other and when they do, it is brief, does not escalate, and quickly results in a diplomatic resolution. By building on simple forms of spatial and game theories, this stunning analysis shows that the democratic peace is a "Nash equilibrium," where no player has an incentive to deviate from the solution, given the choices of other "players." Democracy, because it fosters compromise, drives the political values of liberty, order, and equality to intersect in perfect, or at least relative, balance. Maximum peace and prosperity is the consequence of balancing critical values. A nation's level of peace and prosperity, while perhaps not great, will be no greater than when these core values are in balance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761832485
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	12/14/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	5.99(w) x 8.76(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

William Eric Davis is Professor in the Department of Philosophical / Regional Studies, Community College of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas. Professor Davis holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science from the University of Tennessee / Knoxville.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Peace and Prosperity: An Introduction Chapter 2 Theoretical Foundation Chapter 3 Why the West is Best and America is Best of All Chapter 4 Implications: Linking Values to Peace and Prosperity Chapter 5 A New Understanding of Modernization Chapter 6 America is a Unique Civilization Chapter 7 Conclusion Chapter 8 Tables and Figures Chapter 9 Game Theoretic Axioms of the New Modernization Model Chapter 10 Notes to Chapters Chapter 11 Bibliography Chapter 12 Index Chapter 13 About the Author