SAM Papers Demokrasi, Otoriterlik, Uluslararası Politika: Entegre Bir Yaklaşım Arayışı

The nature of political regimes and their impact on international politics within the context of the Democratic Peace Theory (DPT) is often discussed in the IR literature. The debate between the pro-DPT and anti-DPT circles continues. The DPT is now not only a theoretical approach in the field of IR, but has also become an effective foreign policy strategy. This paper argues that the discipline of IR needs more subtle and sophisticated conceptual tools to explain the complexities of the process of democratization and newly emerging hybrid regimes. It also argues that new approaches, concepts and explanations in the field of Democratization Studies could help the IR discipline to improve its theoretical strength in this regard. The recent debates over the characters of political regimes demonstrate that conceptual advancement in the discipline is a matter of necessity. Thus, the paper recommends greater integration between IR and Democratization Studies.