Journal of Democracy

Payne, Rodger A.
Freedom and the Environment
Journal of Democracy - Volume 6, Number 3, July 1995, pp. 41-55

The Johns Hopkins University Press

Rodger A. Payne - Freedom and the Environment - Journal of Democracy 6:3 Journal of Democracy 6.3 (1995) 41-55 Freedom and the Environment Rodger A. Payne Since Kant, liberals have argued that a world filled with democracies would suffer fewer wars. Remarkably, a growing body of historical scholarship confirms that democratic states have not fought one another. A burgeoning literature now seeks to explain why this peace results. The present essay explores a different, though related, theme by asking whether democratization portends still other unforeseen but propitious consequences for the community of nations. Specifically, do democratic states take better care of the environment? In articulating their support for global democratization, U.S. political leaders have linked democracy and the environment. For example, then-candidate Bill Clinton boasted during the 1992 presidential campaign that democracies, among their other virtues, "are more likely to . . . protect the global environment." In his 1992 bestseller Earth in the Balance, Clinton's running mate Albert Gore, Jr., claimed that the spread of democracy is a prerequisite for the achievement of better environmental policies. Even before the extent and intensity of ecological damage in the former Soviet bloc became widely known, the scholar H.J. McCloskey agreed with the politicians. As he wrote in 1983: Many of the important ecological measures that are being implemented are being implemented in...