Thinking about the International System in the `Information Age': Theoretical Assumptions and Contradictions

The coming of more efficient means of international communication, especially satellite television, have changed forever the character of international relations, leading many to assume that these developments will spawn an international system of democratic, peaceful states. This article is a critical analysis of these assumptions about the relationship between communications, democracy and international peace. The argument is that they are based upon specific theoretical premises that in reality have not informed the practice of international relations, especially by the states that have propagated this rhetoric the most. These premises are found in (a) liberal-democratic theory, and (b) liberal trade theory. This article compares and contrasts these theoretical assumptions about the impact of communications technologies upon international relations and illustrates the contradictions inherent in them. The finding that logically flows from this analysis is that even though it has now been proven that some states characterized as democracies do not go to war against each other, the dimension of communication in liberal democracies is worthy of further analysis by political scientists in the search for the specific dynamics of the relationship between democracies and international peace.